It's Never Easy
by Arch-trainer
Summary: I live in a world where pokemon are only owned by the rich. They hire us trainers to raise and battle their pokemon for them. It's not an easy life. Throw in my past and you can see why I'm not the happiest of people. Maybe this new team will be better...
1. Fired

**Chapter 1-**

"Inferno use your Fire Spin!"

"Cham, dodge and use your Thunder Punch."

The Charizard unleashed a huge stream of fire at the Medicham, but it missed. The Medicham on the other hand was right on the money. The weakened Charizard fell to the ground.

"Charizard is out. Team Katana wins the match." the judge announced.

"Dammit." I whispered. I know what's going to happen now. I recall the Charizard and head back to the hauler. I can already see my boss in there. He has no expression on his face. I'm in big trouble.

"Mr. Mathews, when I hired you, did I not make it clear that as a member of the Liberty Team, losing is intolerable?"

"Yes sir."

"Then would you kindly explain to me what happened out there?"

"Well sir, Inferno is weak against electric attacks since it's part flying…"

"SILENCE. My pokemon are not weak. You however are weak and pathetic." he said, pulling out a whip. "I lost 1000 on this match, so you get 10 lashes." His huge assistant, the aptly named Biff, held me down while he beat me. I was used to it by now. I can't win every time. It hurt, but I held back my tears- it wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me. After he was done, I stood up. He pulled out a piece of paper. I recognized it as my contract. "I am tired of losing money on you. I am firing you, and additionally, I am paying you nothing for your services, or lack thereof."

"But you promised me…"

"I promised you money if you would help me win. You have failed. Give me my Charizard and get the hell out of my sight."

I stood there in shock. I had worked for Mr. Perks for nine months. I had gotten his pokemon so strong. I had won so many matches. I had endured so much punishment. Now he was firing me, without any pay?

"But what will happen to me? How will I survive?"

"It's not my problem. I've given you at least 500 by now. Use your little 16 year old brain for once and figure it out."

"Fine." I said throwing the pokeball at him. "Fuck you, you stupid bastard. You're never going to win any matches anyway because you have as much knowledge about pokemon as that rock over there. Goodbye." I stormed out of his hauler, giving him the finger for good measure. It felt good to finally say that to him. But after they were out of sight, panic clutched my chest. I have no home, no food, and only 200 left of my pitiful earnings. Guess I have to go back to sleeping in shelters and stealing until I can get another gig. Luckily we had been battling close to Viridian City. Maybe I can stay in the Pokemon Center one night.

--

I pulled up my hood and walked into the Center. It was bright- I always hated that. I walked up to the counter.

"Hello, my name is Nurse Joy, and welcome to the Viridian City Pokemon Trainer Center. How may I help you?"

"Yeah, how much for a room for a night?"

"Are you a trainer?"

"Yes."

"Then it is only 15."

"Fine, I'll take a room then."

"Okay, here are the keys, and I'll take your money."

I handed her the money and quickly went to the room. Luckily it had a computer. I logged on and found a map of the area. I know I can't stay here in Viridian City because there is too much of a Team Rocket presence. I may be desperate, but not enough to join them. And there's no way I could get away with any stealing with them around. I notice a town to the south- Pallet Town. I can probably steal some stuff down there. I go to bed and stare at the ceiling. I can't get to sleep. I hate my life right now.

--

After waking up, I take some breakfast stuff from the Center and give Nurse Joy her keys, then head out. I'm going to have to walk a long ways to get to that town. As I walk through the Viridian Forest, I think about how messed up my life is. I wish things could be easier. I wish trainers could afford to catch pokemon. I wish I didn't have to work for stupid people who didn't know a thing about pokemon, yet had them and wanted them to be in battles. I felt sorry for Mr. Perks' pokemon as well as for the next sap that would have to work for him.

You all are probably wondering what I'm even talking about. You see, only the rich can afford to take care of pokemon. It takes a lot of money to be able to afford the necessities it takes to raise even just one pokemon. But battling with pokemon has been a part of human history since ancient times. So a Pokemon Battling Commission was set up a long time ago to govern over pokemon battling. It was quickly found though that the rich people that owned the pokemon didn't actually feel like going through all the training and battling, they just liked the prestige of owning winning pokemon. So they hired people to battle the pokemon for them. These people are called trainers. Most of us are just free agents who can be signed to the various pokemon teams that exist in the world. All that is required is to get a license that we have a basic understanding of pokemon knowledge and the rules of the PBC.

Teams generally challenge each other at any time for pride and money. There are PBC tournaments held throughout the year as well. There are five divisions that teams reside in based on the number of pokemon on the team and how many battles they have won, as well as who those wins were against. I don't care to know the formula they use to figure it out. Division 1 is the lowest, 5 is the elites. The team I just got fired from is a Division 2 team. Some teams have several trainers on them, some are just a rich guy sending a trainer off to go battle around and bring back some cash while he sits in a hot tub and gets happy endings to his massages. Or you have my case where the owner actually goes around too and happens to have anger management issues.

Oh good, I can see a town up ahead. It must be that Pallet Town. I pull my hood up and head down the main street, looking for a good target. I'll just look for some food to steal tonight. I hate stealing money, so I'll put that off as long as possible. As I walk down the streets, all I see are some small shops and then houses. This doesn't look like much of a selection. Wait a minute. Is that some kind of ranch? There's a huge manor on top of a hill, and there is a ton of land around it. Whoever lives there must be the richest person in this town. Oh wow. There are pokemon at that ranch! That means there is probably some kind of storage shed with food in it. That's the target. I'll wait until night to do the deed…

--

It was pretty dark out when I decided to go on the prowl in the ranch. I climbed over the fence around the property and started look for a shed or something that could have the food in it. I have to be quiet or I could disturb some of the pokemon, and that's the last thing I want. The place is big, and I walk around for a while before I see a shed. I walk over to it and open it. Nothing here but tools and garden stuff. I close it and walk around some more. I go closer to the house to see if maybe the food is stored right next to the house itself. I start near the back. I see what looks like it might be a shed. I walk over to it and this one has a lock. This looks more promising. I begin to fiddle with the lock and try to unlock it. It's one that needs a key, so I might be able to pick it. As I get to working on it, it doesn't take long before it opens. I take the lock off and open the doors. I walk in and turn on the light.

"I think you've gone far enough now." I hear from a voice behind me.

Uh-oh, I'm in deep shit.

--

**So I'm going to need some OC's to be main characters, and I'm giving you all a chance to help me! Here's what I need:**

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Appearance:**

**Backstory:**

**Type Specialties:**

**Fav. Pokemon of those types:**

**So send me those along with a review if you please.**


	2. Apprehended

**Thanks to Dreamwriter579 and Meriah for being the first to review this story!**

**--**

**Chapter 2-**

I turned around to see a man that I would guess is in his fifties maybe. He had a flashlight and a triumphant look on his face.

"So young man, what are you looking for of mine?"

"Uh, food…sir."

"Well, there isn't any in there. I've been watching you go around the property. You disturbed my observations of the nighttime activities of dark pokemon- walked right in front of me. To be honest, I've had more fun watching you than the pokemon. I must say for a thief, you aren't very observant."

"It's not exactly my specialty."

"Indeed. Follow me kid."

I followed behind the man into his manor. The man led me to a room and had me take a seat at a table, and then went out of the room for a minute. I was feeling way too scared to even run. Pretty soon he returned, followed by a woman who looked to be in her forties. The man must have already told her what had happened because she looked at me with slightly narrowed eyes. The woman grabbed his sleeve and whispered something to him. I suddenly feel very self-conscious. I probably look like shit. He then turned around and looked at me. He seemed to have a look of recognition on his face.

"Wait a minute; I think I've seen your face before. Are you a trainer, kid?"

"Yes sir."

"I thought so. You're that Ryan Rayne kid. You're with the Liberty Team."

"Actually my real name is Kasey Mathews. Ryan Rayne was a performing name Mr. Perks gave me. And I was fired from that team."

"You don't say. Why were you trying to steal from me?"

"I just needed some food to get by. I have almost no money left. I have nowhere to go, no pokemon of my own, and now no team to work for."

"How can you have almost no money? You've won plenty of times."

"My old boss did not pay me well at all. I'm sorry I tried to steal from you."

"As you should be. Stealing is very wrong and you can go to jail. I should call the police."

"Please don't! I'll do anything; just don't make me go to jail!"

"Hmmm. Let me think about it. Do you have any family?"

"Well, I used to sir. I lived in Olivine City on the west side with my mom and dad. But my dad died when I was three. My mom got married again when I was ten. It was hard because my step-father didn't like pokemon at all. So he would beat me whenever he found out I was playing with them or even talked about them. My mom did nothing, I guess because she was too scared of him. I ran away from home a little while before I turned 12. I lived on the streets and in the underground for some time. But I learned a lot about pokemon training from watching TV's in Pokemon Center's and talking to other trainers, and got my trainer's license when I was 13. I got hired by some little team near Saffron City a little while later and I worked for them for a while, but then Mr. Perks bought my contract when I was 15 and a half. I worked for him for nine months. And now I'm here."

"Does your family know about you at all?"

"No. My step-father didn't particularly care to find me. I found out over a year ago that he took my mom and they went to Sinnoh."

"I see. So you're a little over 16 years old, have been living on the streets for over four years, and have been a trainer for more than two, and you have no distinct future ahead of you."

"That sounds right sir."

He looked at me thoughtfully. The woman looked between me and him, with an air of anticipation. The silence was starting to make me nervous.

"I've decided. I will not turn you over to the police."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I'm so glad I don't have to go there.

"I think that to make up for trying to steal from me, you can do some jobs for me. And perhaps you can have some of that food you were trying to steal."

I couldn't believe it. He was going to let me work for him. And feed me? I was stunned.

"Thank you so much sir. I am deeply humbled by your generosity."

"You seem like a good kid. It just seems like luck hasn't gone your way. Now come on, let's get you some decent clothes." The man and woman started to walk to where some clothes were I guess and I followed. I didn't realize my clothes were in bad shape till I looked on the back and saw dried blood from my lashings earlier. "By the way, my name is Professor Oak."

I stopped. I couldn't believe my ears. I had just tried to steal from _the_ Professor Oak, renowned pokemon professor and the owner of the Horizon Team? Now I really felt like an idiot. He turned around and chuckled at the face I was making of pure embarrassment.

"I take it you've heard of me?"

I nodded "You're the most brilliant pokemon professor on the continent and you own a division 3 team named the Horizon Team."

"Sounds right. Now come on."

I began to follow them again, but I felt a little more on guard knowing this information.

"So Kasey, what was it like working for the Liberty Team?"

"He paid me very little and forced me to train for over 15 hours a day. The man knew nothing about pokemon, and I got the whip when I lost."

"What do you mean 'got the whip.' Are you saying he beat you?"

"Yes sir."

The two turned around looking shocked. I pulled up my shirt to show them the marks from my last loss. The woman put her hands up to her face in shock and the professor had a grim look. I let my shirt down.

"That's outrageous!" the professor exclaimed. "That kind of violence in today's world in unheard of. Why didn't you report it?"

"He said if I did then he would get someone to kill me. And it's not as uncommon as you would hope to think."

"Oh you poor boy." the woman said. "Sam, I'll take him down to get those wounds looked at before anything else." she said. "I'll bring him upstairs when I'm done."

"Okay. See you in a bit." he said before turning and walking back down the hallway.

"Come on Kasey." the woman said. "My name is Delia, and I'm sort of the team mom." she explained.

I followed her to a room that looked sort of like a nurse's station. She took off my shirt and had me lay on the table on my stomach. She pulled out what she needed and started to clean the wounds. The liquid stuff she used stung a bit but I was still grateful for her help. She started working on me. I just laid there deep in thought.

"Is your hair naturally black like that? It looks like blond at the roots." she asked.

"No, I have blonde hair, but Mr. Perks made me dye it black to create some image. Something like I would not be feared with blonde hair."

"Well that's just silly. When it grows a bit more I'll have to cut it. I'll make you look handsome. Just so you know, Professor Oak is going upstairs to tell the team trainers about you."

A spasm of fear goes through me. What are they going to say? I don't even know who the Horizon Team trainers even are. They're probably going to look down at me like everyone else. Delia must have seen my unease.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure they'll like you."

"I hope so. What are their type specialties?"

"Well, how about you ask them later? I'm sure they'll love to talk about it."

"Yeah right. They probably think I'm just some petty thief."

"Oh I don't think so. Why, just get Ash talking about pokemon and he forgets everything else."

I'm less sure than she is, but I am very interested in talking to some Division 3 trainers. I always thought about someday moving up to that division, since I won so often in Division 2, but Mr. Perks' ignorance kept me back.

"There we go, good as new. Now let me get you a fresh shirt."

She left the room for a minute and came back with a shirt. It was a Horizon Team shirt. It feels odd putting on a shirt of a different team, but it's a good feeling. I look up at her. She has a pleased look on her face.

"Now let's go upstairs."

--

**Now before you start freaking out, I'm not going to be including the anime characters in this as main characters. I'm still up in the air about including Ash. His mom rocks, and I needed a caring female type, but her son means nothing to me. Sending more OC's will help keep Ash out! Here's what I need:  
**

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Appearance:**

**Backstory:**

**Type Specialties (2):**

**Fav. Pokemon of those types:**

**So send me those and some reviews to help me recover from the two exams I just took!** **:)**


	3. First Job

**A big thank you to Steamed, ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous, and srgeman for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 3-**

I follow Delia up a flight of stairs and down a hallway into a kitchen. She whipped up a sandwich so fast I was shocked she hadn't magicked into existence. She gave it to me.

"I couldn't Delia. I'm just some thief."

"I won't deny you made bad choices. But the professor is putting trust in you and I will too. Besides, you look terrible and I wouldn't feel well knowing you were in bad shape."

I reluctantly took the sandwich and take a bite. It was delicious, of course. Before I knew it the sandwich was gone. So maybe I was a little hungry.

"There, don't you feel better? Now before I forget, I want to change those bandages tomorrow. I can't have our new helper getting an infection."

Just then the Professor came in.

"Well Kasey, I imagine you would really like to meet my team, but they are out doing a little special training at Cinnabar Island and won't be back until tomorrow at the earliest. Anyway, it's getting late and you are going to be busy tomorrow. Let me show you to your room."

I'm a little surprised. My _room_? That just sounds weird. I haven't had my own room since I lived at home. When I was with the Liberty Team I slept on a cot with the pokemon. And I certainly didn't have a room living on the streets. It would be nice to not have to sleep with the pokemon, even if they are my friends. I follow the professor upstairs and down another hallway. He takes me to a room at the end of the hall and lets me in. It was big! There was a bed, dresser, desk, bookshelf filled with pokemon literature (not really surprising), two big windows, and an adjoining bathroom. It looked like one of the ritzy hotels in Cerulean City on the ocean.

"So this will be your room. I'll be waking you up tomorrow morning around 8. Have a good night."

He left the room and shut the door. I walk into the bathroom and take of the shirt to look at the bandages in the mirror. Delia had done a good job. I stood at the sink and just stared into my reflection. So much has happened so fast. I went from fired to thief to caught to hired in the matter of a couple days. Granted I wasn't going to be a trainer, but I'm lucky to not be sitting in a jail cell. The biggest emotion I feel is fear. I'm so scared of what is waiting for me in the next couple of days. One of the things I hate most in life is having things being uncertain. I like to know what the next day will hold. Here I am standing in practically a stranger's guest room, having been doctored by another stranger, waiting to meet three new strangers. And yet they are being so nice to me. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I mean, good things like this just don't happen to me.

I look at my reflection. I haven't seen what I look like in a long while. The person staring back doesn't show the fear. It's a complete mask of calmness. But I can only fool other people with it, not myself. I see the huge bags under my eyes- it makes it look like I have two black eyes. I'm surprised I still have muscles on my chest and arms like I do with the meager diet I've been living on the past year. I look closely at my hair and see the blond roots coming through like Delia had pointed out. I can't wait to cut this black hair off and get back to being my true self. I used to think I looked pretty good. Right now, I don't know. I look back at the bed- it looks pretty comfy. I walk over and lie down. It _is_ comfy, and warm too. I'll just close my eyes for a minute…

--

_Knock Knock_

"Kasey, wake up. I need you in the kitchen in five minutes."

My eyes shoot open- who in the hell was that waking me up. I look around, and the memory floods back. That was the Professor. I fell asleep! I walk into the bathroom and splash some water on my face to wake up more. Then I head downstairs to the kitchen. There was breakfast food on the table. I look up at Delia, uncertain what to do.

"Go ahead- you're entitled to eat breakfast too!" she says cheerfully.

I only take a piece of toast and slice of bacon. I'm still not used to eating a lot. The bacon is heavenly- not too crunchy or soft, but just right. Why couldn't I have had a mom like her? I'm still a little wary of trusting her, but I can't deny her cooking prowess. The professor then walks in followed by two young boys in pajamas.

"Ah, good morning Kasey. I have two important people for you to meet. This is my grandson Gary, and Delia's son Ash. They are four years old, and your first job will be babysitting these two today while Delia and I drive to Celadon to purchase some pokemon supplies. Boys, this is Kasey."

I look at the kids. I have to babysit these brats? Jail is starting to not sound so bad. One has brownish hair and looks like a kid that gets mean if he doesn't get his way. He eyed me with immediate mistrust. The other had black hair and was clearly the opposite. This kid's eyes were going all over the place and he was practically bouncing up and down. I seriously hope this kid gets medicated after breakfast or something.

"Hi Kasey, I'm Ash. Why are you here? Are you going to eat more than just that? Do you like pokemon? Are you a trainer? Can we play a game?"

I look at the Professor. "You're joking right?"

"Not at all!" he says with a smile. "I did say I'll let you stay if you do some jobs for me. This is your first."

I get up and walk over to the professor to talk while the two kids sit and start eating. The Ash kid is getting food all over the place.

"Professor, I thought by jobs you meant taking care of pokemon or doing chores or something. What do you want me to do with the kids? I don't exactly have a lot of experience taking care of them."

"Just keep them out of trouble."

"Please tell me that Ash is medicated."

"Nope- why, do you think he should?"

"No, it's perfectly natural for kids to be hyperactive." I mutter.

I go back to my room and change into some of the available clothes. Another Team Horizon shirt is there- what a change. I put that on and a pair of gym shorts. I can just tell I'm going to be in for an active day. I head back downstairs and ask the Professor if he could show me around the rest of the house. He suggests that Gary and Ash do it. I groan inwardly. Ash grabs my hand and immediately starts to pull me around the house. In his mile a minute voice he points out the living room, lab, trainer's room, bedrooms, bathrooms, and every other room that a huge manor can hold. There's a freakin library in the house! And an observatory! Finally the little monster takes me to something that I'm interested in, the area where the pokemon are held. There aren't that many there, I guess because the team trainers have them out at Cinnabar. There are still a couple pokemon there- I guess for research purposes. None are spectacular- a Bulbasaur, an Oddish, a Mareep, a Sentret, a Seedot, a Buneary and other common pokemon from the various regions.

"Are these it?" I ask.

"No." Gary replies. So the kid can talk.

"Where are the rest, Gary?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he says in a smug voice. I quickly go over various methods of torturing the info out of the kid before Ash pipes up.

"Stop being a stupid head Gary. The Professor keeps the more dangerous pokemon in the building over there." he says pointing over to a concrete building several yards away.

"Can you two go in there?"

"Of course we can." Gary says. Yeah, I'm not buying it.

"Then lead the way Gary."

"Well, I don't feel like going in there now." he says looking back towards the house.

"Mmhmm. That's okay, I'm not interested. Let's go back inside okay guys?"

"Yeah. Maybe we can play a game!" Ash says practically peeing his pants with excitement. Oh boy.

When we get back inside, Delia and the Professor are just getting ready to go out. The Professor gives me some last minute instructions.

"Keep the kids out of the lab, don't let them into pokemon area alone, no food until lunchtime, and naptime is at 2. Have a good time!" he says walking out the door. I turn around- Ash is looking at me expectantly, Gary looks ready to get into trouble. I'll have to nip that in the bud.

"Alright you two. I want to play a game with you. I didn't tell you yet, but I happen to be a licensed trainer."

"Really? That's so cool!" Ash says.

"You're a trainer?" Gary asks skeptically. I'm starting to hate this kid.

"Yes I am." I say, pulling out my license to show the little doubter. "Anyways, I have an extensive knowledge of pokemon, but I don't know about you guys. You probably don't even know the names of the pokemon you showed me earlier…"

"Yes I do!" Gary says. "There was a Bulbasaur and a Seedot and, um…"

"Just as I thought…" I say with a smile.

"Well if you're so smart, what are they?" Gary asks.

"I've got a better idea. How about you show me how much you know about pokemon by playing a game with me. When I say a pokemon name, you two act like that pokemon. It'll be like charades. If you get it, you get a point. If you don't I get a point. The winner is the first to 10. This will show me just how smart you guys are."

"Okay!" they say.

"Now show me what a Spearow looks like…"

--

We spend the whole morning playing the game. The kids were pretty good, I'll give them that. They were able to do a lot of the pokemon I said. Of course I gave them easy ones, but still. When lunchtime rolls around I get them to help me make their lunches since I have no idea where everything is in the kitchen. A little TV time later, I put them in their room for a nap. They were out in five minutes. Ah, to be young. I go back to my room and sit down. I finally have a chance to think. I really hope that if I do a good enough job with the kids, then the Professor and Delia will trust me. I doubt that they fully do yet, even though I have no need to betray them. Providing me with food and shelter takes the thief right out of me.

I hope the professor gets back soon. I'd really like to see the pokemon he keeps away from the rest. The thought of not being able to actually be a trainer has been gnawing at the back of my mind ever since the kids showed me the pokemon earlier. I'm going to miss the thrill of battle for a while. But working with pokemon might help ease that pain a little bit.

After two hours I go and wake the boys up and let them watch TV. Luckily the professor and Delia come home shortly thereafter. I help the professor unload the supplies they bought while Delia goes to start dinner. After we finish, I turn to the professor.

"Professor Oak, Gary and Ash told me about the building where you keep your more dangerous pokemon. I would very much like to see them sometime."

"Oh yes, I imagined you would. Tell you what, after dinner I'll show you."

"How dangerous are they?"

"You'll just have to see now won't you?"

--

**A/N- Do you all like what I did with Ash and Gary? :)**

**So this will be the last chance to submit an OC before I name the Horizon Team. Just as a reminder, here is what I want:**

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Appearance:**

**Backstory:**

**Type Specialties (2-3):**

**Fav. Pokemon of those types:**

**Anyway, leave a review too so I know how I'm doing.**


	4. Introductions

**I want to thank JoshDW, Ketchum Kid, Lyokoluva, ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous, and WedgePalmer for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 4-**

After dinner the Professor took me out the back and toward the building I saw earlier.

"You did a good job with the boys. Usually babysitters don't want to come back because of Ash's overactivness and Gary's trouble making."

"Well, I was sort of untruthful when I said I had no experience with kids. I helped take care of younger kids in the community I lived in in the sewers back in Johto."

"Oh, I see." he said looking clearly uncomfortable. "Anyway, the pokemon I keep in here are mostly for research. It's not that they're dangerous; mostly it's just that they are too big to be allowed to roam around outside here. It would take too much effort to keep them contained." he explained.

At this point we had reached the door and he pulled out a keycard. He swiped it through a reader and the door swung open. He let me in and closed the door behind us. I can't wait to see what pokemon he has. He leads me down a flight of stairs and through another door. It's a giant underground meadow!

"I had this artificial habitat constructed so the pokemon could function as they normally would. It would not be good research to keep them locked up in cages." he explained.

As I looked around, I saw a lot of awesome pokemon. The first ones I saw was an Aggron and a Mawile having some sort of conversation near some rocks. I looked over to the more open meadow to see a Kangaskhan, a pair of Tauros, a Hariyama, a Nosepass, a Hippowdon, and at least a dozen more. I looked over to some trees to see a bunch of bug types including Illumise, Beautifly, Butterfree, Pinsir, and more (but no Beedrill, probably a good decision). Over in the water, there were not many pokemon, but there was a Ludicolo, a Surskit, a Toxicroak, and a Gyrados. There had to be over 50 pokemon in this place!

"What do you think of them?" the Professor asked.

"I think it's a shame you aren't using some of these pokemon in battle."

"Well, most of them probably could battle, but I don't have anyone to train them as of now. My four trainers cover eight different specialties, but none of the one's you see here. Speaking of which, what are your specialties?"

"I was never with a big enough team to develop any. I just worked with whatever pokemon I was given. I've had many different types that I've worked with, but never any of the bigger pokemon, since they are more expensive to take care of. The biggest I ever worked with was a Charizard, and that was the biggest by a long shot I should add."

I followed him around as he talked about the different facts about the pokemon he learned in his research. A lot of it was very interesting. I had no idea about how to calm down a Gyrados until he said that if you stroke the third fin down from its head it will immediately turn docile. As we continued around I noticed the Mawile from before following us around. I don't have much experience with that pokemon, so I asked the professor quietly about it.

"Oh, that Mawile's trainer died a couple years ago. I've been taking care of her for a while. Her trainer was about your age so maybe she's a bit confused."

I took his word for it and continued to follow him around.

"So I looked up some footage of your battles last night. I must say you look much different without all that makeup and piercings."

"Yeah, I always hated being dressed like that. I think the goal was to make me look like an emo/punk kid since that's not a very threatening opponent. Mr. Perks always thought weird like that."

"You were a popular figure with the female audience."

"Yes, and it got kind of crazy sometimes. But I really find the fan girls to be annoying. They are always so superficial, saying that they want to marry me and acting all weird around me. It always felt to me like they were mocking me, even though they weren't."

"Mocking you? Like making fun of you?"

"No, that's not what I mean. More like, insulting my intelligence. I mean, when the fan girls would act all goofy and giggly and stuff it just irked me. I don't even know them yet they know me. It's just very off-putting. I'm actually more of an introvert than an outgoing personality that likes that attention. But I was always forced into the role and I just did my best to keep up."

"I don't mean to get off topic but you are very well spoken for someone who lived on the streets."

"Well I did go to school before that. And I like to read so I went to the library and read whenever I got a chance."

"That's a good thing. But getting back to the topic at hand, I think you've handled the pressure very well for someone so young."

"Thank you." I say looking back towards the Mawile. It's still following us. I think I'm going to have a talk with that pokemon sometime.

"Goodness, look at the time." the professor says looking at his watch. "It's nearly 10:00. We should be heading back in. I'll be picking up my team at the docks in the morning. I'm sure you're looking forward to meeting them."

"It will be interesting," is all I can reply with.

I follow the professor out the door, but not before giving the Mawile a small wave. It runs off with its hands over its face looking embarrassed. I chuckle at the sight. We walk back into the house and Delia is in the kitchen. She tells me it's time to change the bandages, so I follow her down to the nurse station again. We chat about the pokemon in the underground lab. I tell her about the Mawile and she laughs about how it acted.

"I think you've found another fan." she says.

After inspecting my back, she says I don't need anymore bandages, but I do need to keep the wounds clean. I bid her goodnight and went up to my bedroom. I decide to take a shower. As I step in and let the hot water cascade over my body, I think about the conversation I had with the professor.

I conveniently didn't tell him that the reason I read so much was to keep my mind off of the fact that my body was sold for sex at 13 years old so I wouldn't starve to death. The imaginary worlds in the books I read allowed me to escape the living hell I dealt with every time some sick businessman with a fetish for boys would come to the sewers looking for a good night. I didn't tell him that I couldn't deal with the pressure of the fans and turned to cutting myself every time it got to be too much. I ran my hands over the scars on my thighs. I couldn't let Mr. Perks know I was doing that or he would have just rubbed my face in it and made fun of me for being weak. So I had to cut myself where he wouldn't know, but I would. I hadn't cut in about three weeks, which was pretty good for me. Getting fired may turn out better than I thought if it helps me stop cutting.

If only my dad hadn't died…how different would my life be?

--

I wake up the next morning with Delia knocking on the door telling me to be downstairs in five minutes for breakfast. I get dressed and head down. It's only her down there.

"The Professor is out picking up the team at the dock. They should be back within the hour. And he took the boys with him."

"Great. I can't wait to meet them." I said grabbing a half of a bagel.

We both sat there in silence- I ate my bagel and Delia sipped her tea. Finally she looked at me and said,

"Kasey, I just want you to know that the Professor and I would never treat you the way you were treated with your old team. I also want you to know that if you ever want to talk to someone about anything, you can always talk to me."

"Thank you Delia. That means a lot. I'll remember that."

She looked pleased by my answer, and went about cleaning around the kitchen. Of course I know that I could never tell anyone all that I've been through. What would they think of me? After eating I went back to my room and tried to make myself look presentable so that the Horizon Team trainers wouldn't look down on me as some criminal turned servant for the professor. I sweep my hair to the left side of my face. I should probably have it cut soon. It's going to be going past my nose in the front and it will start to go past my neck in the back. And the roots are really noticeable now, making it look idiotic. I decide to put the eyebrow piercing in just to draw some attention to my eyes. The other ones are useless, and the tongue piercing just made me look like I was gay. Now that I think about it, the whole outfit I used to have made me look gay, but that's beside the point. After getting a good look at myself, I approve of the changes. I head downstairs to wait. Delia passes by and does a double take at the piercing before continuing about her business. Finally after twenty minutes, I hear the car pull up and several people getting out. The front door opens and in walks the professor, then the duo of doom (Ash and Gary), followed by his team. There are four trainers. They all almost immediately look at me. The professor steps in between me and them.

"Guys, this is who I was telling you about on the ride here. As I said, his name is not Ryan Rayne, his name is Kasey Mathews, and as I said, he will be staying here doing some jobs for me. Kasey, this is Meriah, Evan, Greg, and Schuyler."

I shake each of their hands as I am introduced. None of them seem to be looking at me with contempt or mistrust which is good. They look a little intrigued as to why I am there, which I'm sure I'll be asked in time. I also take a good look at each of them as I go down the line.

The first one, Meriah, looks to be a little older than me. She has green eyes and her skin is very tanned. Her hair is really long- it goes down to her chest in the front and midway down her back in the back. She's about half a head shorter than me. She seems to be a pleasant type of person. Evan looks to be about my age. He also looks like me quite a bit. His hair is blondish (I'm sure real as opposed to fake) and about the same length, he has dark blue eyes, and has a tall and skinny physique. Greg has a similar appearance to Evan and me, only he has brown hair and eyes. Shuyler is a little bit shorter than Greg and Evan, and has blonde hair and brown eyes. He didn't seem very interested in the conversation- in fact he looked bored.

Overall it is a pretty young group for a division 3 team. Usually there are more experienced trainers in their twenties on the higher division teams. Division 5 teams sometimes had people in their forties. I'm anxious to be able to talk to them.

"So, now that introductions are done, I'm sure you would all like to have a chance to talk shop. I'm going to the lab."

He walks away and I turn toward the group.

"So, how're you all doing?" I ask.

**--**

**A/N- Thanks to everyone who submitted an OC for this story. I should tell you that if your OC is not a part of Team Horizon, don't worry, because your character will still be in the story somewhere- I have all of them mapped out. Anyway, reviews are appreciated!**


	5. Pasts

**Thanks to Steamed, Ketchum Kid, ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous, JoshDW, and srgeman for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 5-**

"Hey Kasey, I'm Evan. Love to chat sometime, but I need to wash up since someone here thought it would be hilarious to douse me in Combee honey to attract Beedrill." he said glaring at Greg before walking off towards the bedrooms.

"You had it coming since that last prank you pulled on me." Greg yelled up to him.

"Well it's nice to see I'm not the newbie anymore." Schuyler said

"He's not a trainer so you're still the new guy in my book." Meriah said to him. "Hi Kasey. It's nice to actually meet you. I've seen you battle before. I'm kind of glad to see you don't look like that in real life. Why don't we talk over lunch?"

"Okay." I said following her with Greg and Schuyler right behind me. Delia was in there already cooking up something for the team to eat. Given the fact that the terrible two weren't around, I guess she fed them already. The three of us took a seat (Schuyler looked longingly at the food).

"For the love of Arceus Schuyler, could you at least show a tiny bit of interest in what's going on over here instead of thinking about food?" Meriah asked. She turns towards me. "So where are you from?"

"I grew up in Olivine City." I replied, deciding not to go into my history unless pressed.

"Why did you get fired?" Greg asked.

"My former boss decided I was not good enough for his team and let me go after my last match in Viridian."

"That's crazy. You're so popular with the female audience. I know I've seen a picture of you on those teen magazines before." he said, while Meriah nodded her head in agreement.

"I can't explain the way his mind works."

"Do you miss that job?" Meriah asked.

I pause. I hadn't really thought about it. I do miss being a trainer, but I don't miss him or the beatings or the living in squalor.

"I'll miss training, but I don't miss that job."

"Really? What made it so bad?" Shuyler asked, joining the conversation.

"I'd rather not go into that."

"Why not?" Greg pressed.

"I just don't. It was…painful." In more ways than one.

"Geez Greg, calm down." Meriah scolded. "What are your type specialties Kasey?"

"I never was on a team with enough pokemon to have a specialty. I've worked with a lot of different types. What are yours?"

"I specialize in fire and psychic types." Meriah replied. That's a lot of power.

"I prefer water and electric types." Greg said.

"I've found I work best with flying and dark types." Schuyler said.

"And I whip all their butts with my ground and ghost types." Evan said walking into the room, hair dripping wet still. "So I've got a question for you Kasey- I have a bet with a girl I know that you're gay. She says no, I think you have to be with those outfits you wore in your battles and those piercings. Who's the winner?"

"Evan!" Delia said with shock.

"It's okay Delia." I say. "She is the winner of that bet. I'm not gay; I was just dressed that way for show."

"Damn." Evan said with a frown.

I hate how people make assumptions about me just through what they see on TV. I shake his comments off and start to eat the food Delia sat down on the table.

"So if the Prof took you in you must be damaged goods." Evan said matter-of-factly. "What's your tragic back-story?"

"Evan what the hell is wrong with you?" Greg asked angrily.

"Nothing, I'm just interested in our new friend." he said casually. "Here, I'll start with my indiscretions. Long story short, my life so far has been wrong place, wrong time, and wrong crowd. I had some friends of mine who joined up with Team Rocket, I was bored and looking for money, and they convinced me to join. I worked as a recon agent for a while."

I look at him in surprise. He worked for Team Rocket? At his age?

"I got tired of being a part of the nasty stuff that they did, so I left. Spent some time as a small-time thief. Nothing major, just some pick pocketing and some petty theft. Anyway, the police actually caught me in the act this one time in Cerulean so I ran away. I wound up getting away from them but got lost in the woods. I sort of fell off a cliff and started to fall and this Gligar saved me. The Gligar was the Profs. It flew me back here, he took me in, I got my license, and I've been here ever since."

I consider what Evan has said. He had a similar past to me at least in the stealing part. I certainly would have never joined Team Rocket though.

"That's a very interesting story Evan."

"Yeah but my story is better." Greg said.

"Here we go; lets see who had the worst life." Evan said sarcastically.

"Shut up Evan. Anyway, I grew up in an orphanage in Vermillion City. My father got killed in a battle tournament while my mom was pregnant with me, and she committed suicide from the post-partum depression. It was your typical orphanage- I was abused and the people who ran it treated us like dirt. I ran away from that life at 10. I lived in the streets of various cities for a few years- Celadon, then Fuschia, then Pewter. I was going to the islands to see what they were like. I was walking through a field and then I saw this flock of Spearow attacking a Pikachu. I've always been one to look out for the little guy, so I went in to rescue it."

"An idiotic move if I ever heard one." Evan said. I on the other hand am surprised. It seems like between Evan and Greg, there was a lot of my past in there. It's just Greg is much less sarcastic and seemed to have a nicer personality than Evan.

"Unfortunately for me," Greg said glaring at Evan, "the Spearow of course started to attack me. Luckily for me the professor was nearby and saw what was going on and took care of the Spearow. I was pretty banged up and he took care of me. The Pikachu has been with me ever since. Oak let me become a part of his team after I healed and got a license to train."

"Yawn. Yes what a hero you are, let's get Greg the award for mightiest defender of rodents." Evan said. "Anyways, you've heard from us, start spilling Kasey."

"Meriah and Schuyler have nothing to say?" I ask.

"Yeah Evan, thanks for giving us a chance." Meriah said. "Though I admit my past is not as colorful as theirs. I was raised on the Whirl Islands which is why my skin is this tan. I lived a fairly normal childhood. I did pretty well in school and wanted to learn more about pokemon. I applied to be an intern for both Professor Oak and Professor Elm, and Oak took me. I worked in his lab but I really liked watching the pokemon battles that his team did. Back then it was only one guy- his name was Vince. He worked with Dragon and Normal types and he was an amazing battler. He moved onto a Division 4 team later. But I learned a lot from him about training and battling and after my internship was over I asked the professor is I could join his team, and he let me. I've been here ever since, so it would make it, let's see I'm 18 now, so five years."

"She's the captain." Greg said. "I've only been here for three years and Evan only has one under his belt. And Schuyler here has only been with the team for a month." he explained.

"I guess it's my turn now?" Schuyler said. "I'm like Meriah in that my story isn't that interesting. I've been a trainer for a little over a year since I was fifteen. I started out with a local team from my hometown in Lavender Town. I've been traded a total of seven times since."

"Seven times?!" I ask.

"Yep. Never could find a type specialty and lost a lot of battles. I was at a tournament and my old team and this team were there. My team owner apparently was trying to trade me and Oak traded for me. Never found out what he traded for, but whatever it was I'm glad he did it. I found my specialty in about two days here, and now I've started to win, which feels good."

"Yay for Schuyler. Are we ready to give Kasey his chance to talk now?" Evan said impatiently.

"If he is up to sharing then I guess." Greg said looking at me.

"Fine, I guess you all earned it." I tell them the same story I told the professor just a couple days ago. If I can't tell the professor or Delia about the cutting and the sex stuff I did to get money, there's no way I would tell these four. It was interesting to see Evan's look when I talked about my "criminal" background and to see Greg's when I talked about my experiences living in the streets. And it was sort of funny watching them grimace when I talked about the beatings I received under Mr. Perks. After I was done talking, all four were looking at me wide eyed. Finally Evan spoke up.

"Well, it's like I said, if you're here, your broken goods. But don't worry dude, things have been a million times better for me since the prof took me in. I'm sure it will be the same for you. And you definitely aren't going to be whipped around here."

"Definitely." Meriah said.

"It's cool to have a fellow graduate from the streets around." Greg said.

"Thanks guys." I say. I somewhat feel like I was being welcomed into their group.

"So I say let's go down and wash up our pokemon and do a little training here at home to finish the day." Meriah said. "Feel free to come down and watch Kasey." she added.

"Yeah, I'll try to get down there."

And there it was. I'm not a part of the group. I can't be. They are trainers, I am not. Plain and simple. I can never be a part of that group. I'm not even a member of Team Horizon. I'm just some guy working off a debt to the professor. After I'm done with that…who knows what my future holds. It's never easy to think about your future when your whole life has been one unpredictable event after another. While they go down to the training area, I head up to my room to think. And the more I think about the fact that I'm a nobody at this place, the more depressed I become about where my life is and how much of a failure I am.

After an hour of these thoughts, and my frustration and anger growing the whole time, my thoughts begin to drift to my blade. It calls to me as an escape from the pain. It is a pocketknife that I had inherited from my father after he died. I have been cutting for a few years now. It lets me feel again and provides an escape from my tormented thoughts. I head into the bathroom and lock the door. I sit on the edge of the bathtub and roll up my pants to expose my thighs. I look over at my reflection in the mirror. All I see is an ugly failure. I press the blade to my skin and run it across. A crimson line appears along the path. This is my sweet release…

--

**A/N- Well I'm sorry for the long wait. I think I'll be alternating weekly updates between this and my other story. I'm just so busy with college stuff, that this is the best I can do. Hope you all are enjoying the story though, and please leave a review!**


	6. Scrimmage

**Thank you to Ketchum Kid, JoshDW, and pikachuhunter1 for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 6-**

I wake up feeling better than I had yesterday. I had taken some gauze from the first aid area that Delia had treated me at when I first arrived last night to dress the wounds. No one would notice anything had occurred yesterday. Just how I prefer it to be. Dinner had passed with conversations about training and hopes for a challenge from another team. I had sat silently taking in the conversation and observing the way everyone interacted. It was clear to me that Greg and Evan had a bit of a rivalry, no doubt caused by the way Evan interacted with him. He would constantly try to one-up Greg and if he couldn't he would go into his sarcastic remarks mode. But I couldn't get a grasp on if they actually disliked each other or were just that type of friends. Evan also messed with Schuyler a great deal, but never with Meriah, which I took to mean he was either scared of her or he respected her. Meriah is very knowledgeable and it was evident in the way she talked. It is very easy to see that she had a good education in her youth. She treated everyone at the table with respect. Greg appeared to me like he has a bit of a crush on her. Schuyler was on the quiet side although when he did speak it was usually quite relevant and he was quick to dole out hilarious one-liners about things. He seemed to get along amicably with Meriah and Greg, but again I couldn't grasp if Evan's mannerisms made Schuyler amused or irritated. It seems like he is very observant and has a quick mind, but is a bit reserved and only speaks when warranted.

I get dressed in a pair of jeans and another Team Horizon shirt. I desperately need to get to a store and buy some different clothes- I'm getting sick of looking at the stupid logo on these shirts. I head downstairs to eat something for breakfast. My stomach is telling me I should have eaten more at dinner. I grab a bagel and eat the whole thing, plus a banana. Delia is surprised that I'm eating that much.

"Well I'm glad to see you eating more like a normal teenage boy." she said cheerfully.

"It happens on occasion." I replied.

Just then the professor walks in and turns toward me.

"Ah, just the person I was looking for. I need some assistance in the underground facility." he said.

"Sure." I say getting up and following him. "What do you need help with?"

"A little help with the pokemon getting some tests done. Nothing _too _crazy." he said with an emphasis on the too. I don't know if I want to find out exactly how crazy that is.

He leads me through the locked door and down the stairs and into the underground meadow. Over the course of the next couple hours, I get a taste for life as a lab assistant- it isn't pretty. The first thing he wanted to do was get a sample of the tail rocks for an Onix. It involved drilling a half inch wide hole to the center of the rock and biopsying a sample. The idea of drilling into an Onix seemed suicidal to me but he told me that they hardly feel a thing as long as they are distracted- my job. It wasn't too bad, I just had to soothe the Onix by giving it something akin to a massage, in this case using a giant electric sander with really rough sandpaper on the Onix's "neck." Apparently it feels great to the Onix since as soon as I started the Onix practically turned to putty. I looked over in fear as he started the drill, but in the end, the Onix didn't kill anyone and the professor got his sample. I noticed that when I turned the sander off, I had barely scratched the rocks- I guess they are as hard as I've heard.

The next test was a physical on a baby Kangaskhan. Everyone knows how protective of their young the mothers are, so he had an ingenious plan. He briefly sedated the mother, attached a couple of blinders under her eyes so she couldn't see the pouch, took the kid, and then had me sit in the pouch. I asked him why he didn't just sedate her through the whole thing and he explained that there wasn't a sedative strong enough to do so without causing brain damage. Again I couldn't help but feel like I was in the process of committing suicide, but I was surprised once again that it went smoothly. Apparently the mother didn't notice the difference between me and her baby. I was amazed how big the pouch was and how oddly comfy it was. When the professor was done, he sedated her again, took the blinders off, had me jump out and replaced the baby.

And so it went for the rest of the time- checking the tooth regeneration of the Gyarados (pretty fast), measuring the wingspan and Stun Spore content of a Butterfree, Beautifly, and Volbeat (a lot, to my detriment), taking blood samples from a Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan (who'd have thought it was yellow in color?), and measuring the bite strength of that Mawile from last time I was in there (very strong).

Finally I walk to the lab area covered in dirt and dust, with the Mawile still following me.

"Well Kasey I think that's enough data collection for one day. You're off the hook for me. Though you should probably was that Stun Spore off of you before you breath any in." he said pointing down at my shirt.

"Thanks professor." I say looking up to avoid breathing on the shirt.

"Oh, and why don't you take that Mawile out with you? She could use some time out of the meadow." he said looking at her and handing me her pokeball. I look down at her.

"C'mon let's go." I say, pocketing the ball. Her face immediately lights up and she leads the way out of the lab. I pick her up to get her up the stairs.

"So I guess I remind you of your old trainer huh?" I ask her.

She nods in reply. "I hope that's a good thing?" I ask. Again she nods. Good.

I carry her up to my room and set her down while I rinse off my hair and face in the sink and then change into new clothes. Just as I finish pulling the new shirt on, I hear a knock at the door.

"Come in." I say.

The door opens and in walks Greg. He looks at the Mawile and then at me.

"What is that Mawile from the professor's lab doing up here?" he asked suspiciously.

"She's been following me around every time I go down there so the professor said I should take her out for some fresh air." I answered truthfully. "So what's up?"

"How about me and you have a little scrimmage battle out back? I'd like to see what you're like in a battle." he said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

I look at the Mawile. She nods her head.

"Alright, I'm game. We'll do it after some lunch."

"Awesome!"

We head down to the kitchen and each make a sandwich. Evan walks in and overhears us talking about the battle.

"So, the new guy remembers how to battle after all. What are you using?" he asks.

"I'm using this Mawile." I say pointing at her where she is standing next to Evan.

"Isn't that the moping Mawile from the lab?" he asks looking like he's about to laugh. Mawile does not find it funny and bites him on the leg.

"Ouch!" he cries.

"Good going Evan, you idiot." Greg says laughing at him.

"Aww, you're a happy Mawile aren't you? Evan's just an ignorant meanie, right?" I ask her. She nods walking over to me. She looks back at Evan and gives another snap of her jaws. He jumps back and then leaves the room. Greg and I look at each other and laugh. It feels good to be able to connect with someone. We finish lunch and get ready to head out to the practice field.

"Wait. I don't know what moves this Mawile is even capable of." I tell Greg.

"We can use the analyzer in the professor's office to determine the amount of experience she has and that will tell you how many moves she knows." he says.

I follow Greg to the professor's office. It's a beautiful room- there are rich hardwood floors, a huge window behind the gigantic desk that looks like it was made from a giant tree, a nice fireplace, comfy-looking armchairs in the corners, bookshelves filled with pokemon literature, and pictures on the walls of the professor, some other people, and rare pokemon. While I stand there admiring the office, Greg gets the analyzer and holds it up to the Mawile. It gives off a printout and Greg reads it over.

"According to the readout, this Mawile has enough experience to know 10 of the 14 moves that a Mawile can learn. Here's the list." he says handing it to me.

I look over the moves that the Mawile knows. For being a steel type this pokemon sure knows a lot of dark moves. Oh well. I follow Greg out of the office with the Mawile close behind. We make our way down to a practice field. I take my place in the trainer box. It feels good to be back in the box getting ready for the battle. I can already feel my adrenaline starting to kick in and that swooshing sensation in my stomach. I tell Mawile to go onto the field. Greg takes his place on the other side of the field.

"I'll choose my Vaporeon for this battle." he says, throwing the pokeball in the air. Out came the water based Eeveelution. I had always disliked the way Vaporeon looked since they had those fins around their heads making them look like crazy dog/fish mutants.

"You can make the first move." Greg calls out. I look down at the list of moves for Mawile.

"Okay Mawile, use Astonish." I call out. She turns her main jaw towards Vaporeon and lets out a loud yell. Vaporeon jumps about a foot into the air.

"Show your Quick Attack Vaporeon!" Greg calls but Vaporeon doesn't move. Perfect, it flinched.

"Go use Crunch Mawile." I yell. She takes off towards Vaporeon and bites down hard with her main jaw.

"Vaporeon use Water Gun and get her off." Greg commands. It releases a huge jet of water from its mouth and knocks Mawile off after about five seconds. Mawile gets back up ready for more.

"Use Fake Tears now Mawile." She immediately begins bawling in the middle of the field.

"Don't fall for it Vaporeon- use Tackle." Greg calls. Vaporeon begins to charge at Mawile at full speed, but as it gets closer it starts to slow down just a tiny bit. Now's my chance.

"Faint Attack!" Mawile cuts off the water works and swings up at Vaporeon hitting it right in the muzzle. It gets knocked down but gets back up again, albeit a bit woozy.

"Shake it off Vaporeon. Use Aurora Beam."

Vaporeon takes a second then begins charging the beam.

"Iron Defense Mawile." She curls up into a ball and after the beam hits her dead on, she gets right back up like nothing happened. "Now use Vice Grip." She jumps over at Vaporeon and bites down again with her jaw and does not let go.

"Shake her off with Water Gun again." Greg yells. Vaporeon again shoots a jet of water directly at Mawile and knocks her off again, but she pops right back up. Meanwhile Vaporeon looks pretty beat- it was panting pretty heavily and still had some blood trickling out of its nose from that Faint attack.

"What say we call this Greg? Your Vaporeon looks pretty tired out for a scrimmage." I say. He looks at Vaporeon and nods his head.

"Yeah your right. I don't want to go to far for practice battles." he says walking over to Vaporeon to look it over. "You did well for not having worked with that Mawile before."

"I'm actually surprised that it went as well as it did. She's a tough little customer." I say as she looks over at me with a big grin on her face. Greg returns Vaporeon to its pokeball and I recall Mawile to hers for some rest. Greg and I walk back to the house discussing the battle. We run into Meriah working with her Quilava right outside the house.

"I saw you to battling down there from up here. It looks like you haven't lost a step in your training Kasey." She said. I've never really been praised for my battling before so all I can do is say a "thank you" in return. I go into the house and see Evan eating his lunch. He eyes me warily.

"Where's that Mawile." he asks.

"She's resting in the pokeball." I reply.

"I want a chance to battle you." he says.

"Maybe another time." I say walking up the stairs into my room. I lie down on the bed and think about the battle and how good it felt to be back in the thick of training- coming up with battle strategies, looking for weaknesses in the opponent, figuring out moves on the fly; I needed a battle to cheer me up. And it felt good to bond a bit with someone at the house. Greg is the person that probably can understand me the best having been through a lot of the same experiences.

A little later on Delia comes in with some laundry to put away. She looks over at me with a smile on her face.

"I saw you battling with Greg earlier. Tell me about it." she said excitedly. I sit up and start telling her about the whole battle. I talk about how good Mawile did for never having battled with me before and make sure to talk about how badly Vaporeon had lost that battle, thanks in large part to the incredible Faint attack she landed. After I finish the story, Delia has a grin on her face.

"I'm so glad that you're connecting with the other kids and having some fun battling. It wasn't fair that you had to go through what you did with your old team, so I'm glad that your getting to see what a joy training and battling can be." she says, her look turning serious. "I just want you to know that if you ever feel down and want to talk to me, you can. I'm the team mom for a reason." she says.

"Of course Delia." I reply.

"Great. Well be sure to come down for dinner in a bit." she says, walking out of the door.

I lie back down and start thinking. This is the third time I think that Delia has said I should come to talk to her if I have something I want to talk about. I start to think that maybe she knows something about me that I haven't told her yet. How could she know that stuff though. I look over at the bathroom. That's when I see the towel that I had cleaned some of the blood up with from last night, folded neatly and sitting on the counter. That's not how I left it. Uh-oh.

**--**

**A/N- I redid the last scene in Chapter 5 since I don't think I did it justice and it is not the sort of thing that should be rushed over. I want to reassure you all that Kasey is not an "emo suicidal idiot." I know cutting can be somewhat cliche and over-dramatic, but I chose to have it in here because it is a.) a serious problem and b.) it is used as a coping mechanism for teens that have no one to lean on and have suffered through emotional and physical trauma, something that fits Kasey's background perfectly. It will pop up periodically in the fic, but I promise that it will not be taken lightly, and that it will be handled as realistically as possible. I'm sorry if this kind of thing turns you away from the fic, but this is how I want to write it. **

**Anyways, remember to leave a review!**


	7. Challenge

**I know it's been a while, but thank you to ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous, Ketchum Kid, JoshDW, and pikachuhunter1 for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 7-**

"So it's been two weeks, what do you think of the place so far?" Schuyler asks.

The question comes out of nowhere. Evan, Schuyler, and I were in Schuyler's room talking about the D-5 championships that were going to be starting in three weeks. I hadn't even realized I have already been here for two weeks. I look down at the Mawile relaxing in my lap. I had come to start calling her Vikki, short for Victoria, the ancient goddess of victory (Nike in a different culture) after I had beaten Evan in a battle with her. Even though we lost a battle apiece to Meriah and Schuyler, she's still a tough little fighter. She's definitely made the transition to living here at the Oak ranch easier for me.

"It's been nice. It's the most stable place I've lived at in a long time." I reply truthfully. It had been a good two weeks. I've have a chance to develop my relationships with everyone in the house more. Greg is definitely the person I'm closest to here given our shared pasts, followed by Schuyler. Even though he is quiet in group settings, he's a really good person to chat with one on one, and our moral differences make for some enjoyable debates. I have gotten to know Meriah more as time has gone on, but we don't share a whole lot in common. We get along amicably though. Evan and I is... interesting. His sarcasm has died down after some more encounters with Vikki. She has been sort of protective of me around him, not letting him run off his mouth for too long with out a good snap at his ankles. I think he acts the way he does because he's the youngest person here, and he wants our respect. So I've been trying to talk to him like an equal, and it has made a bit of a difference. But there is still a sharp edge to his tongue, and he and Greg still go at it like a couple of bulls. And I've definitely grown to trust Delia more as well. She talks with me all the time about Ash and Gary, training, her past, my past. I still haven't gotten all the way to opening up about the bad stuff in my past, but I've opened up a lot to her- more than any adult figure in my life in the past decade at least. It makes me think about my mom sometimes, and I miss her. But I push the thoughts out of my head like always.

"I told you you'd like it here." Evan says. "I was a little weirded out when I got here about how normal everything was. It's nice to have a little regularity in your life after living the way we have."

"Definitely. And it's also nice to have some people my own age to talk to." I add.

"Your welcome." Evan says smugly. Schuyler rolls his eyes but smiles. This is the kind of person to person interaction I've not had in a long time.

"Anyway," I say, "who do you guys think looks good for the D-2 championships?"

We talk for another half hour before we get called down for dinner. After we all sit down and start to eat, the Professor stands up.

"I have an announcement guys. We have gotten a challenge."

Immediately everyone starts cheering and talking excitedly.

"Settle down for a second." the professor says, laughing. "Anyway, the battle is set for two days from now at the Pewter Arena. We're facing Team Guardian, which you guys know is another division 3 team. We are way ahead of them in the rankings, so losing to them will not be good for us. You all know that the D-3 tournament is a couple months from now, and it is imperative that we position ourselves well for that."

"Don't worry professor, we've beaten them before, we can beat them again." Greg says.

"It'll be good to do some butt-whipping." Evan says.

"Indeed." the professor says. "So, I want all of you at the projection room for a strategy session at nine tonight. Let's get back to eating shall we?"

As we start to eat again, I sit back and think. This is going to be my first time back at an official battle since I was fired. It should be interesting. Even though I won't be competing, just being at the battles is an experience in itself. I'll have to make sure someone fills me in on the strategy that they make up tonight. I turn to Schuyler.

"Hey Schuyler, you'll fill me in on the strategy you guys come up with tonight right?" I ask.

"I think the professor just said everyone at the table should be there. That includes you." he replies.

"Why would he want me there?" I ask in surprise.

"Why not? You have battling experience; it wouldn't hurt to have you there. Ask him if he wants you there."

"I'll ask him later." I say. I can't believe someone on a team as established as this one would want my opinion. I only fought in divisions lower than this. What good will my opinion be? I join back in the conversation when the rankings comes up.

"We're 39th right now, so how much do you think we'll move up if we win?" Evan asks.

"Probably not much since Team Guardian isn't even the top 64." Meriah replies. "But they will be fighting hard to get into the top 64 by the time the tournament rolls around. We need to be focused."

"Definitely." Greg agrees. "We could drop a lot if we lose. We're already lower than I would like, so we have to win."

"Calm down, would you? We're gonna clean the floor with them." Evan says confidently. "You worry too much."

"Well someone has to worry, Evan. Not everyone prances around without a care in the world like you do." Greg says.

"I don't prance!" Evan says in a fake upset voice. "Clearly some of us are just more confident in our abilities as a trainer than others."

"And what does that mean exactly?" Greg asks with narrowed eyes.

"I'm just saying that when you are an elite trainer such as me, the idea of losing to someone seems laughable." Evan says with a smirk. "Therefore, I don't have to worry. I would assume that if you worry about losing, it's because you don't feel like you can win every time."

"You're a cocky little ba- ,er, something aren't you?" Greg says looking at Gary and Ash when he changed his word choice. "Whatever, the day you fall off that high horse of yours, I'm going to be sitting there laughing and taking pictures of your disappointment."

The rest of the dinner goes on pretty much like that. When the professor gets up and leaves, I quickly get up and follow him out.

"Professor!" I call out to him. He stops and turns around.

"What's up Kasey?" he asks.

"I was wondering if you were saying earlier that everyone should be at the meeting that that means I should come too? I didn't think it did."

"Of course you should be there. You're a part of the team, and everyone gets a say in what we should do. You've got a whole new view point to bring to the table. I personally can't wait to hear what you have to say about our strategies." he said kindly.

"Oh, okay, then I'll be there at nine." I say. He nods and then heads off to his office. Wow, so they do want my opinion. A smile comes to my face. I finally feel like I'm starting to belong to this team.

---

I head to the strategy session with Greg. He t ells me about what usually goes on.

"Well we start off going over what happened the last time we went against the team, if we have gone against them. Then we talk about who is on the team and what pokemon are available for them to use. Then we try to figure out which of our trainers and pokemon will give us the best chance to win. Pretty straightforward, but usually there is a lot of debate over who we all think is the trainer that gives us the best chance at victory. Usually we each think that we are the one that will lead us to victory, so it's on from there." he says with a smile. This should be an interesting night.

We walk into the projection room and see that the professor and Meriah are already talking. The projection room is pretty basic- a large table with a 3-D projector in it that will light up on the table. There are several nice chairs around the table. The walls are covered with pictures of the Horizon team in action in battle. I recognize Meriah, Greg, and Evan in some of them. I guess Schuyler hasn't had a chance to get a good shot yet.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, the rest of the crew shows up. The professor gets right to business.

"Alright, so like I said earlier, we are going against Team Guardian. We last went against them a couple of years ago when we were both in D-2 together. We beat them handily. It was Meriah and Vince in that battle- it was two three on three matches, and two one on ones, and our two went undefeated. The team moved up to D-3 last year after they accumulated a large enough team and enough wins to cross the point threshold. So that's one thing in our favor, is that they did not actually win the D-2 championship to get into D-3 like this team did. However, they are much different than before." he cautions, as he turns on the projector. It begins to show images of Team Guardian in battle. "As you can see, they rely heavily on normal, rock, ground, and steel types. I don't know what it is with those teams from near Pewter City, but they just can't get enough of those types of pokemon over there. The trick they pull out is each trainer has an electric type, and they also rotate some fire types as well. They don't want someone coming in there and cleaning them up with water and grass types. I'm not worried about the fire since none of you are really weak to them, but the electric can hurt. So we'll have to factor that in when we choose our lineup. From what I was told in the battle report, it's going to be battle mode alpha 4133, so we need to pick the two of you going in the three on three's and the one of you each to do the one on one and the four on four."

The discussion, like Greg predicted, goes on for awhile. They debate about who is a stronger battler in each situation, who has the clear advantage over each type that Team Guardian has, who should be worried about the weakness that their specialty has, which type that each trainer should focus on of their specialty, and everything else that they could come up with that had two opposing viewpoints. I didn't add that much to the discussion, since I'm not that familiar with the pokemon that each trainer works best with. My opinion was asked at times to help break up a stalemate, and I gave my honest opinion. Evan is of course excited since his ghost types are strong against normal types, and thinks he should get the bulk of the work, adding that his ground types will take care of the electric wildcard. I agree with them that Greg will be safest going into a three on three since his water types will do well, but he can put in an electric type for safety against a normal or another electric type. Schuyler we agree is in trouble since his flying types would not do well, so he would have to rely on dark types- he was probably best for the one on one. Meriah's fire and psychic types will probably suit her best in the four on four since she can switch in fire for the normal and steel types, and put psychic in for the rock and ground types. This leaves Evan doing the other three on three. I stay completely out of the "which pokemon to use" discussion since I haven't seen each person and their pokemon actually in action.

Finally after a good two hours, the team is settled on the strategy for the battle. It looks good in my opinion, and I look forward to seeing it implemented in two days. The team agrees that they should get in some good practice tomorrow to warm up for the battles, since they haven't battled in a while. I offer to help in whatever way I can. I guess I'll find out tomorrow what is needed of me.

---

**A/N- Sorry again for the delay. I'll try and hammer out a lot more of this over Thanksgiving break, since I know I ain't gonna be doing much work over finals week. Anyways, leave a review!**


	8. Prepare

**Thank you to Ketchum Kid for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 8-**

I sit down to lunch with the gang, all of whom are sweaty and dirty. All four of Team Horizon's trainers had spent the whole morning busy practicing for tomorrow's battle. I had sat back and watched each of them do their own special training.

Evan was all over the place, having not decided which of his pokemon to use in his battle. He was currently training with all of them, running back and forth between each of them doing attacks and sparing with each other as he was fixing their technique and giving them pointers on how to improve. It was interesting to watch him interact with his pokemon- for as sarcastic as he was with people, he treated his pokemon with such care. Schuyler was nervous since he was in the one on one. He knew he only had one shot in the barrel. He was working with his Umbreon and Mightyena, unsure which one to choose for the match. He had them racing against each other to see who was faster, then had them practice different attacks to see who was stronger.

Greg and Meriah were much more relaxed in their practicing. Both were in the same boat as Evan, having not decided which pokemon they would be using. Greg was mainly working with his water types to figure out which two he was going to take. He wasn't really pushing them that hard, just putting them through their paces. It looked to me like he was focusing on their non-water moves, to see which would give him an additional edge over Team Guardian's trainers. He was also chatting with Meriah the while watching his pokemon. She was very laid back in her practicing. I guess five years under your belt will give you that confidence. She already had narrowed down her selection to three of each type. It looked to me like she was going with two of each of her fire and psychic types. She had a Ninetails, Arcanine, and Quilava out practicing against each other, and an Espeon, Gardevoir, and Girafarig practicing with each other. Even though she was chatting with Greg, she had a sharp eye on what her pokemon were doing, and occasionally shouted out a command that was followed instantly. I hope to be that good someday. Meriah and Greg headed in before Evan and Schuyler were done, apparently satisfied with what they had accomplished. Both made sure to talk to each of their pokemon and thank them for doing so well.

"So how do you guys feel about tomorrow?" I ask as we all start to eat.

"I'm going undefeated tomorrow." Evan says proudly.

"To be honest, I feel the same way." Greg says. Evan looks at him in surprise.

"I feel pretty good." Schuyler says, though I can see in his eyes that he is less than sure about that. Meriah apparently sees it too.

"You'll be great, Schuyler. Two days from now, we're going to be celebrating a Horizon Team victory!" she says raising her glass.

"Cheers!" everyone says in agreement.

"So what's in store for the rest of the day?" I ask.

"Not much, just getting ready for tomorrow." Greg says. "I like to mentally prepare for a battle for a few hours the day before."

The others agree that they have their little pre-battle day routines that they like to do. Meriah says that she likes to take a good long run around the town to clear her head. Evan says that he doesn't do that much, just looks over the film some more and think about strategy. Schuyler says that he likes to lie down and listen to some music. I decide to just stay out of everyone's way for the rest of the day. I know that I did not like to be bothered when I was preparing myself for a match.

After lunch is finished, everyone goes their separate ways. I head up to my room and lie down on the bed, trying to figure out what to do. Vikki is sleeping at the foot of the bed. I could take her outside later and do some training with her if she's up to it. Right as I start to think about the different training techniques I can practice with her, Delia knocks on the door.

"Hey Kasey, I figured you would be bored with everyone else doing their pre-battle prep sessions. I thought I could finally get around to cutting your hair so you look nice for tomorrow." she says.

"That would be great!" I say. I've been meaning to take her up on her offer to cut it for a while now but it kept slipping my mind. I follow her downstairs to the kitchen, where she has a chair set up and her hair cutting stuff out. I sit down and she puts a cloth around me.

"I was thinking the first thing we need to do is get rid of all this black dyed hair. You're going to look so much more handsome without it. Then I can play around with the length of the blonde hair and put some gel in it to make it look great. It's really going to make your eyes stand out more- they're such a pretty shade of green. I can already picture the look- you're going to like it." she says happily and starts getting to work. I sit and watch as long strands of black hair fall onto the floor. It's like watching the last strings attaching me to my life before getting here falling away. It feels good, finally putting the period on a rather miserable chapter of my life.

"So how is Vikki doing?" she asks after a couple of minutes of just telling me when to tilt my head and in what direction.

"She's doing well. I was actually thinking of doing some training with her when you came and got me for this. I think I'll do it later."

"That's great- she's really taken a liking to you. I think it's always nice for someone to have a pokemon that they can always rely on and be friend's with." she says, still snipping away. "I used to have a Pikachu that was with me all the time. She and I were inseparable. She died a few years ago, but I always treasure that friendship." she says, with a hint of sadness. As much as she mothers all the trainers and people in this house, I can see her just loving having a Pikachu to nurture and take care of. They are cute, easy to take care of, and fiercely loyal- perfect for someone like Delia.

"So what have you been up to? I haven't talked to you in a couple days." she asks.

"I'm good. I liked the strategy meeting last night. It was interesting seeing everyone getting ready for the battle tomorrow. I'm excited about going out there tomorrow to watch everyone for the first time."

"How do you feel about not being able to be on the battlefield?"

"It's going to be a little weird. You know, I always get this swooping nervous feeling in my stomach whenever I'm about to battle. I hate that feeling at the time, but at the same time, it's a good feeling. It lets me know I have a chance at winning, and who wouldn't be excited about that? I'm not going to have that feeling tomorrow. I think I'll still have fun cheering everyone on. And it'll definitely be nice having the fan girls swooning over me like when I dressed up in those idiotic outfits. I probably won't even be recognized by anyone with the new haircut and normal clothes. That should be a nice change."

"Me, you, and the professor will have fun in the team owner's box. And you can tell me about what's going on. The professor is always too busy analyzing the pokemon to explain to me about all that's going on."

She continues cutting as I sit there thinking about what tomorrow is going to be like. I can picture Pewter arena in my mind. Not the biggest of arenas, but it looks kind of like an ancient coliseum thanks to the expert stone builders they have out there. It's one of the prettiest arenas around and battling there makes you feel like a gladiator. I'm snapped out of my thoughts when Delia starts to put the gel in my hair. She plays around with it for a minute, before stepping back and taking a look at me.

"You look fantastic!" she exclaims. "Better than I imagined."

She goes to the counter and picks up a mirror. She holds it up to me so I can get a look at myself. I'm surprised by the person staring back at me. I haven't had my natural color hair in a while, and it's been a very long time since it has been this short. But with the styling that Delia has put in it, it looks good. It goes well with my skin color (training out in the sun a lot helps the tan) and like Delia predicted, it does bring more attention to my eyes. I look up at her and nod. She has a victorious grin on her face.

--

I wind up not getting any time to train with Vikki as I spend the rest of the afternoon helping Delia getting everything ready for the battles tomorrow. I help her get the team's uniforms ready, get the pokemon supplies and food packed up, get food for the team together, and get all the necessary paperwork filled out and ready. After everything's done, I go up to my room to wash up before dinner. I look at my reflection and smile. It's going to be a fun day tomorrow.

I head down to dinner after I'm done in my room. Everyone is already there ready to eat. Almost all of them do a double take at my new appearance.

"Something's different about you Kasey, but I can't put my finger on it." Evan teases.

"You look completely different without the black hair." Schuyler says.

"Yeah, you look great Kasey!" Meriah says.

"Thanks guys." I say, feeling heat in my cheeks- I know I'm probably blushing. I'm not used to being genuinely praised for my physical features- just the 'you look hot' from people at battles. "All credit goes to Delia though."

The rest of the dinner passes with idle chatter about the battle tomorrow. The issue has been so thoroughly discussed though that no one has much to say. I get to repeat my conversation earlier with Delia when Meriah asks how I'll feel about not competing tomorrow. Evan laughs when I mention the fan girls.

"Are you serious? You had fan girls?" he asks.

"Yeah, it was crazy. There were regular crazy girls, then there were a lot of older women, and then there were a lot of goth/punk/metal/I don't even know what, girls." Evan laughs again.

"Well, no surprise you had goth girls following you given what you used to wear. What did they do, ask you to sign the knives they cut themselves with?"

I immediately feel a frown on my face form at the statement as I clutch my thigh. "They did not." I reply curtly. "I'm done." I say, getting up and putting my dish in the sink and walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs. As I leave I hear Greg admonishing Evan. I walk into my room and shut the door. How dare he just talk about a subject like that so casually! He has no idea. It's not just that he slighted my fans, even though that upsets me too. His remark is like a personal insult. I go into the bathroom and sit on the edge of the bathtub and draw up my shorts and look at my scars. Evan cannot even begin to describe what people like me go through. I trace the longer scars with my fingers remembering the feeling of the blade against my skin for a couple minutes. My thoughts gradually drift to the pocketknife that formed those scars. I start to reach for it.

"Kasey!" I hear at the door. I immediately cover my legs back up, then slowly head over to the door and open it. Greg is standing there.

"Hey dude, are you okay?" he asks

"I'm fine." I reply.

"Are you sure? You don't look okay."

I sigh. "I just felt very…insulted by what Evan said down there." I say, knowing the dual truths to that sentence. We both sit down on the bed.

"I know. He's probably just jealous of you." What?

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.

"Well yeah, you have girls fawning over you at your battles, you've been in those girl magazines before, people have asked for your autograph. None of us have that kind of personal following of fans. I mean Meriah is fairly popular, and I have a bit of local following." he says with a hint of pride. "But he doesn't, and he's clearly jealous of you for having it. I'm sure he would like to have that kind of attention, even if he won't admit it."

"I didn't even think of that." I say, surprised to say the least.

"Don't let him get to you. You're stronger than that." he says, patting me on the back and getting up leaving the room. I think about what he says, but only feel slightly better.

--

The next morning, everyone is up, dressed, fed, and in the van by nine. It's funny seeing the four trainers dressed up the same. The uniforms are pretty cool. The team's colors if I haven't mentioned are red and black. The pants are all black with a red stripe up the outside and are made of a loose material like you'd wear to the gym. The top is a form fitting black short sleeved shirts with a V-neck and raised collars .Also there is a red stripe along the side that starts skinny at the sleeve and swoops wider as it gets to the bottom, and there's a semi circle of red on the front around the neck area. The team logo is sewn onto the right sleeve. The trainer's name is on the back of the shirt in white letters. I enviously look at them knowing all I'm wearing is a black t-shirt with the team logo on the front.

The van drives us to the small airport in Pallet Town, where we load into the Professor's private jet. Inside, there are seats in pairs on both sides of the aisle, as well as a bigger seat in the back, sort of like a bus, but of course these seats were way nicer. We all take a seat and get ready for takeoff. The flight is an uneventful hour. Evan and Schuyler have fallen back asleep, Meriah is reading a book, and Greg is looking out the window, while the Professor and Delia sit in the front and talk. No one seems to be in the mood to talk, so I just sit back and watch the scenery go by. As we go over Viridian City, I catch a glimpse of the giant Viridian Stadium. The memory of my last battle flashes through my mind, as well as its messy aftermath. After almost an hour has passed, Pewter City comes into view. After we land and grab all the necessary stuff, we pile into another van that takes us to the arena.

Once we get there, the four trainers and the Professor go to the registration area, while Delia and I wait in the lobby just watching all the people go past. I had decided to wear a hooded sweatshirt over the t-shirt and sunglasses today to reduce the chance of someone recognizing me- just in case. After about 10 minutes, the five return to where we are with their ID tags on. The professor gives and Delia and I guest passes. Then we head to the team's box seat for the day. Our battle isn't until 3 in the afternoon, the customary time for the D-3 match. Most arenas start their scheduled battles at noon, with a D-1 match, and then go up the ladder until getting to the D-5 match of the day, if there is one, with it happening in primetime under the lights. If not, they just have a lower division match during the day in its proper place. They allot an hour per battle and thirty minutes between to reset the field. The professor hands me a program of events for the day and I flip through it. There is a D-5 match later- I hope we stay for it.

As I look at the teams on the schedule for the day, some of the names are familiar to me. In the D-2 battle, Team Senescence is battling- that's the first team when I was in D-2 that I beat, and they are going against Team Anomaly, which is a team that I had a fierce rivalry with. Bunch of weirdoes is all they are. In the D-5 battle, the Moon team is going against the Fuchsia team. That should be a good one.

We don't have to wait long before the opening ceremonies for the day start. There's a concert by a local rock band that isn't too bad. Then they do a preview for the day on the screens around the arena- the promo for the Horizon Team is pretty good, focusing mainly on Greg and Meriah, I guess since they're the vets. Then there is the presentation of the Kanto flag (what, Johto isn't good enough?), followed by a preacher leading everyone in a prayer for the safety of the trainers and pokemon. Then they have someone sing the Kanto national anthem (I still don't know all the words to it). Finally we get around to battling time.

The D-1 battle is fairly boring. Since those are small teams in that division, it's usually only one battle. In this case, it is one two on two battle. The one team sends out a Sandslash and a Stantler, while the other team sends out a Seel and a Breloom. The Seel rapidly eliminates the Sandslash and almost the Stantler as well, but the Breloom finishes the job. The winning is called the Bonanza team (wow).

After that battle, our four have to head down to the trainers room to get ready. Delia gives each of them a hug and a wish of good luck, I shake each of their hands and also wish them luck, and the Professor just nods to each of them. They head off, looks ranging from excited to calm to nervous. They'll do fine, I can tell.

The D-2 battle is interesting to watch for me. It's an unusual battle format: beta-2-2-alpha-1, two doubles battles and a one on one. I of course secretly root for Team Senescence to win. Delia is interested in the doubles battle format so I explain to her how teamwork is key to winning this battle type and how it takes a lot of concentration by the trainer to focus on their two pokemon as well as the opponent. The battle winds up being a real nail-biter. Team Senescence wins the first double battle, but the idiot team winds up taking the second, so it comes down to the one on one to see who wins. The moron brigade sends out a Lombre, while my new best friends send out a Haunter. The battle is fierce and goes on for a good fifteen minutes. Finally, the Haunter gets in a good Lick attack and the battle ends with the Lombre knocked out. I let out a loud whoop before quickly sitting back in my chair, embarrassed by the confused stares the Professor and Delia were giving me.

It takes the field crew a little while to clean up the field and repaint the lines. Finally after about twenty minutes, it's time.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's now time for our Division 3 battle. Today, the Horizon team of Pallet Town will be going against a team from right here in Pewter City, Team Guardian!" the announcer says as the crowd goes wild. Here we go!

--

**A/N- My longest chapter ever. Battle next time. Reviews?**


	9. Vs Team Guardian

**Thanks to ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous, Ketchum Kid, MetalPrincess13, and JoshDW for the reviews!**

**--**

**Chapter 9-**

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's now time for our Division 3 battle. Today, the Horizon team of Pallet Town will be going against a team from right here in Pewter City, Team Guardian! First, the Horizon Team will be taking the field. The Horizon Team trainers are Schuyler Madison, Evan Vice, Greg Taylor, and Meriah Keilana!" the announcer says as each of them walk onto the field and wave at the crowd. The four stand together at the south side of the field and wait for the other team to come out.

"And now for Team Guardian. We have Issac Walker, Michelle Harper, Caden Reed, and Hannah Scott!" he says as the other team walks onto the field. Their uniforms are purple and light blue. They take their places at the opposite side of the field. The judge walks to the midline and turns on his microphone.

"This is the Division 3 match between Team Guardian and the Horizon Team. The battle mode will be alpha 4-1-3-3. Trainers cannot switch out pokemon. I expect a clean match." he says as he looks at both teams. "The lower ranked team gets to choose between sending out their pokemon second or making the first move. Team Guardian chose to make the first move. Teams are ready, let's begin!" he calls taking his place on the sideline as the crowd starts cheering.

"Well there you have it folks, and as you can figure out, this battle mode will require a team to earn at least 6 points to get the win. As the judge said, the first match will be a four on four. Stepping up from the Horizon Team looks to be their 18 year old captain Meriah Keilana. Team Guardian looks to be sending in the three year veteran Reed." the announcer says.

The two stand in the trainers boxes looking ready for battle. Meriah has a calm smile on her face, but I can tell her mind is moving at a mile a second. The other guy has his back to me so I can't see his face. He reaches down and chooses his first pokemon. He sends out an Onix. Meriah nods her head then pulls out her pokeball and tosses it in. Out comes her Gardevoir. The crowd oohs at the beautiful psychic type. The judge raises his flags, and then brings them down to start the battle. Reed has his Onix move in with a Slam attack, which Meriah has Gardevoir easily dodge with its huge speed advantage. She then tells Gardevoir to do an attack, but I can't tell what she told it to do. Nothing happens. I wonder what she ordered it to do? The Onix now is moving in to attempt an Iron Tail attack, but Gardevoir stops it with Psychic, then lifts the Onix into the air and throws it back at its trainer. Gardevoir is clearly very strong and I can see that Meriah has a strong connection with it, since she is making some similar movements to Gardevoir back in the trainer's box. Onix recovers quickly and is ordered to do a Dragonbreath attack that hits Gardevoir. Gardevoir gets back up again and looks at Onix as it is suddenly slammed into by a huge burst of psychic energy. I look at the professor confused.

"What attack was that?" I ask.

"Don't tell me you've never seen a Future Sight attack before." he says while keeping his eyes on the match.

"Ah. I have not."

Onix is slower to get up after that attack than the last one. Reed looks slightly concerned but tells his pokemon to use another Iron Tail. This time Gardevoir dodges it by jumping high in the air and landing on Onix's head. It then begins to use its hypnosis attack. I can only tell because Onix begins swaying sleepily, finally lying down on the ground asleep. Reed looks like he's pondering what to do for his pokemon, but before he can do anything, a red energy field surrounds Onix and starts streaming into Gardevoir. It's using Dream Eater. The attack keeps Reed from recalling his Onix as long as it lasts. Finally after about twenty seconds, the attack stops. Onix does not seem to be moving still.

"Call it judge! It's unable to battle!" the Professor shouts. The judge raises Meriah's flag and declares Onix unable to battle anymore. Reed returns his Onix to its pokeball and sends out a Lickitung. Now I can see why they have a low rank. Meriah decides to keep her Gardevoir in the battle. Calling it a battle though winds up giving it more credit than it deserves, because Meriah has the Lickitung knocked out in about a minute and twenty seconds dodging its moves and knocking it silly with Psychic. Ouch.

Reed recalls his fallen normal type and sends out a Skarmory, clearly looking to get Gardevoir off the field. The ploy works as Meriah recalls her Gardevoir, and then sends out her beloved Quilava. Smart move in my opinion. The Skarmory takes to the air immediately and does an Air Cutter attack that connects. Quilava gets back up and chases the Skarmory with a Flamethrower. The metal bird dodges and weaves around the flames, but finally gets caught in the blast and shrieks in pain at its weakness. It flies back around and gets charged for a Peck attack which Quilava is ordered to counter with a Flame Wheel. When the pokemon collide, Skarmory looks like it takes the brunt of the hit and is visibly hurt. It can't even stay in the air anymore. It does a Swift attack to try and do some damage before getting knocked out, but Quilava again counters the attack, this time with another Flamethrower. The flames go right through the little stars and hits Skarmory right in the beak. After the attack stops, Skarmory flops on the ground, and the judge declares it out of the battle. Things are going as good as possible for Meriah, since she's now up 4-1. Reed sends out his last one, and as expected it's an electric type, a Flaaffy. Meriah decides to send out a fresh pokemon and recalls Quilava to send out her Espeon,

Flaaffy starts off with a Cotton Spore attack, which is wise since it slows Espeon down greatly. Espeon comes back with a Psybeam attack that connects with Flaaffy. It's actually pitiful to see how slow Flaaffy is. It comes back with a Thunder attack, which surprisingly connects with Espeon. I guess the Cotton Spore is having a great effect on Espeon's ability to dodge. Espeon retaliates with a Psychic attack and hits the mark. It looks like it's coming down to which pokemon can take more hits. The two pokemon exchange two more volleys of attacks, before Espeon finally collapses to the ground and is declared unable to continue. Meriah recalls Espeon and sends out her Gardevoir to finish the job, which is does so with its first Confusion attack.

"And the judge has signaled that Flaaffy is out. The first battle goes to Meriah! The Horizon Team gets off to an excellent start, losing only one pokemon to Team Guardian's four. The fire and psychic specialist Meriah is a handful for any trainer and she shows it down there with an impressive performance. The next matchup is the one on one. Stepping up for Team Guardian is Michelle Harper, while the Horizon Team sends in Schuyler Madison. Madison, originally from Lavender Town is in his second battle with this team, while Harper has been on Team Guardian for two years. Let's watch how things go down." the announcer says.

Since it's only a one on one, the advantage of getting to send out a pokemon second is eliminated since you already have your pokemon with you. Harper sends out a Rhydon, while Schuyler sends out his Mightyena. Guess that answers who did better in the training session yesterday. The match turns into a knockdown, drag out slug-fest between two pokemon that are neither weak to each other nor strong against each other. Rhydon uses everything from Stomp to Take Down to Earthquake while Mightyena uses Bite, Crunch, Take Down, Tackle and everything else to try and defeat Rhydon. But the battle was lost for Schuyler from the beginning. Rhydon had too many different attacks and too much of an offensive, defensive, and strength advantage to be overcome by Mightyena, even though it gave a valiant effort. After about five minutes, the judge raises his flag and declared Mightyena unable to continue. Schuyler slumps his shoulders in defeat and recalls Mightyena before trudging back to the bench with his head down. Meanwhile Harper jumps up and down celebrating her victory.

"Poor Schuyler." Delia says sympathetically while the professor agrees.

"He did his best, and I can't ask for more than that." he says.

"A great performance by both trainers, but it's Team Guardian with the advantage in that round, making the score 4-1 in favor of the Horizon Team. A win in either of the remaining matches will give them the victory, while Team Guardian has to win out from here to pull off the victory. The next two matches are both three on three's. Team Guardian is sending in team captain Issac Walker while battling for the Horizon Team in this match seems to be Evan Vice. Walker is well known for his battling prowess, and has been with Team Guardian his entire career, a span of almost five years. Vice, a native of Ecruteak City is in his second year with the Horizon Team. This battle could decide the win, so let's watch." the announcer says. He's good at setting the stage for a battle.

The two trainers take their places in the trainer's boxes. Walker pulls out his first pokeball and tosses it in. It's a Donphan. Evan does a little jump in his box before quickly sending out his Vibrava. Donphan gets rolling literally, doing a Rollout attack. Evan has Vibrava counter with a Dragonbreath attack. Donphan though rolls right through the stuff coming out of Vibrava's mouth and smacks right into it, sending Vibrava flying backwards. Evan looks stunned, but regroups and has Vibrava do a Crunch attack which turns out to be difficult to do while Donphan continues to roll around. Finally Evan reconsiders and has Vibrava do a Sand Tomb attack to stop Donphan, and succeeds. Right before the Sand Tomb attack subsides, he has Vibrava fly up close and when the attack subsided, he has Vibrava do a Faint attack. Donphan looks a little rattled, but is ordered to do Fury Attack, which Vibrava is able to dodge about half of, while getting hit towards the end a good bit. Evan has Vibrava answer back with another Dragonbreath, which seems to take more of an effect on Donphan this time as its starts to twitch and then it suddenly lies on the ground on its side with its legs sticking out. It looks like it's paralyzed. Evan jumps on this and has Vibrava do a Screech attack followed up by a Crunch attack. This does the trick as Donphan goes limp, knocked out.

Walker recalls his pokemon at the judge's signal and sends out a Lairon. Evan recalls his Vibrava and sends out his Dugtrio. Walker starts his Lairon out using Metal Claw. But Evan has Dugtrio use Dig to dodge the attack. Lairon starts to walk around when it suddenly gets hit after about fifteen seconds by the Dig attack. Although it's so heavy it really doesn't go that far, but it does a lot of damage. Lairon takes the opportunity of being so close to Dugtrio by hitting it with an Iron Tail attack that knocks Dugtrio back a bit. Evan has Dugtrio answer back with an Earthquake attack. The trainer's aren't affected by the attack, but Lairon looks like it's on a trampoline it's being thrown around so hard. After the attack subsides, Lairon is quite slow to get up. I'm surprised it's still ready to fight given its huge weakness to those ground type attacks. But nonetheless, Walker has it move in for a Take Down attack. Dugtrio easily dodges given it has three times the speed of a Lairon. Evan then has it go in for the kill by using a Mud Slap attack. It does the trick as Lairon collapses on the ground in a heap. The judge declares it out.

Walker calls back his Lairon and gets ready to send out his last pokemon, a neutral look on his face. Evan's face has a giant smile on it and he's bouncing up and down with excitement. I've never seen him like this before. Walker sends out his last pokemon and it wipes the grin off of Evan's face. It's a Lanturn. A perfect surprise for that team to pull out an electric and water type. Evan decides to recall his Dugtrio and sends out his Sableye. That is really his only option. Lanturn starts out quickly with a Thunder Wave, paralyzing Sableye. Sableye is still able to attack back with an Astonish attack that while doing damage, does not seem to have made Lanturn flinch. Lanturn answers back with a Hydro Pump that smashes into Sableye inflicting moderate damage and turning the paralysis on as Sableye stays standing on the field but not moving. Walker takes advantage of this and has his Lanturn use Charge and after several seconds, has Lanturn unleash a powerful Spark attack that hits Sableye dead on. This is starting to look bad. The attack does nothing to help the paralysis as Sableye continues to stand motionless. Walker has Lanturn use another Hydro Pump, which completely engulfs Sableye and washes it off the field. The judge announces Sableye out of the battle. Evan stands there shocked as Walker looks triumphant.

Sableye is returned to its pokeball and Evan sends out his Dugtrio again. Walker immediately moves in to knock it out as fast as possible with a Hydro Pump again. Evan attempts to have Dugtrio use Dig to dodge the attack, but with so much water in the area, it has to be damaging Dugtrio. It eventually resurfaces and lays a hit on Lanturn, not as powerful as before, but still doing damage. Lanturn turns in midair and uses Water Gun on Dugtrio doing tremendous damage. Evan has Dugtrio answer back with an Earthquake attack, but it doesn't look as strong as earlier. Lanturn does another Hydro Pump and Dugtrio is out.

Now Evan's down to his last pokemon, sending his Vibrava back out to hopefully finish the job. Lanturn are known for being able to take a lot of hits, but this seems a little ridiculous. The Professor is on the edge of his seat while Delia is chewing her nails, eyes glued to the field. I don't even realize it until now but I've been standing up gripping the rails tightly for a while now. Lanturn starts the attacking again with a Hydro Pump. Evan has Vibrava take to the skies to dodge it and is able to miss most of it. Luckily Vibrava is not weak to water. Evan orders Vibrava to do a Dragonbreath attack that hits the mark but Lanturn is still ready for more. Walker has it do a Supersonic attack which results in Vibrava getting confused. And there's nothing Evan can do. He tries to get Vibrava to listen to him, but Vibrava doesn't seem to be willing and begins to fire off more Dragonbreath attacks. This is risky since Vibrava is weak to its own attack. Lucky for Evan, it doesn't hit itself, but it doesn't hit Lanturn either. Walker seizes the opportunity to lay on some hits by having Lanturn do a Take Down attack which hits Vibrava since it's close enough to the ground to be hit. This clearly does a good amount of damage to Vibrava. Evan is now pleading with Vibrava to listen and use Crunch attack, and by some miracle, it listens and lands the attack. Now Lanturn is really looking tired. That recoil from the Take Down could not have helped the effort. Lanturn is told to do another Hydro Pump, but by now it looks like Vibrava is less confused as it starts to dodge like it did earlier. Once again it does not take a lot of hits. Evan has Vibrava use a Sand Tomb attack and traps Lanturn, inflicting a lot of damage as well. As the sand starts to settle, everyone's breath is hushed as they wait to see how Lanturn is. When it finally stops, Lanturn is not moving. The judge declares Lanturn unable to battle. Evan begins to jump all over the place as the other three trainers head over to him for a big group hug. Professor Oak is clapping loudly and Delia is whistling. I just sit back and watch with happiness at everyone's reactions.

"And what a match as Vice defeats Walker and takes the win for the Horizon Team! A heroic effort by Walker's Lanturn at the end but it's not enough as the Horizon Team is the winner of the Division 3 battle today by a score of 7-1. Congratulations to the trainers as well as owner Professor Samuel Oak." the announcer says. The crowd is cheering politely but it's clear they wanted Team Guardian to win being the hometown team.

"Do you think we should head down there?" I ask.

"No, we usually let them unwind and then head up here to debrief." Professor Oak replies.

"Okay, well I'm going to the bathroom." I say.

"Actually I need to go too." Delia says. We both head out of the box and walk down the corridor to the bathroom. A lot of people are milling about since it's between battles. I go in and do my business and then go out to wait for Delia. While I'm waiting, I hear a familiar voice from behind me.

"These people might not recognize you, but I do."

I turn around and see a person I hoped to never see again, Mr. Perks.

"W-what are you doing here?" I ask stepping back from him.

"Looking for your replacement of course. It shouldn't be too hard since you were pretty much the bottom of the heap." He looks down at my Horizon Team shirt and sneers. "Found another team to take you in huh? Clearly you aren't a part of the team if you're not in a uniform. They must know about your previous performances."

"They aren't like that." I reply lamely. He snorts in derision.

"Yeah right. You're just a charity case and that's it. Before long it'll be out with you. And then it's back to the streets peddling your specialty. You know exactly what I meant too." he says as I look at him in horror.

"You said you'd never talk about that."

"I don't care. And neither do these people. As I'm demonstrating, you are replaceable and worthless." I don't want to let him get to me but I can feel the tears in my eyes starting to form. "And now you show just how weak you really are."

"What are you doing?" Delia says in a raised voice. "Leave him alone!" she says as she steps in between Perks and me. "I don't know who you are but leave Kasey alone."

"As you wish." He says as he slinks off. Delia turns to me with a concerned look. "What did that man try to do to you? Did he hurt you?"

"Only my feelings- that was Mr. Perks." I answer. She puts her hands over her mouth, and then turns angrily towards the direction he went. "So that's the monster huh. Well if I'd known that I would have shown him what I think about his type." she says angrily. I immediately hug Delia. No one has ever wanted to stand up for me or my feelings since my dad died. Delia says some words to help soothe me and it helps a lot. I finally pull out of the embrace and wipe the tears away feeling like an idiot for crying.

"Better?" she asks.

"Yes. I can't tell you how much that meant to me." I reply. "I hope you don't think I'm some over-emotional goof or something."

"Of course I wouldn't. You go ahead and cry if you need to. I don't know what he was saying to you but whatever it was was probably a bunch of lies. He's just a horrible person. You shouldn't believe a word he says."

"He said that I'm just a charity case that the professor took in and will get rid of when he's tired of me." I say miserably.

"I can tell you that the professor doesn't see it like that. What he sees is a kid with a good heart who's had a hard life and deserves a chance for something better. And he sees you being with this team as a chance for you to learn from your mistakes, learn about yourself, and to restart your life on the right foot." she says. The way she says it, I can't help but feel better. I nod my head as she hands me a tissue to blow my nose.

"Ready to head back?" she asks softly.

"Yeah. Screw him- I won't let him get to me. Let's go celebrate. "

We walk down the hall back to the box to await the triumphant entrance of our victorious trainers.

**--**

**A/N- Well the battles were hard to write, and I got some creative inspiration for my other story, so I'm sorry for the long wait. Let me know how you all like the format of everything in your reviews.**


	10. Celebrate

**Thanks to JoshDW for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 10-**

Towards the end of the Division 4 match, the gang walks into the box. Evan is beaming with pride about his win- I can tell this is going to provide him with enough smugness to last him a while. Meriah is smiling pleasantly and Greg looks pretty much the same as always, but Schuyler still looks disappointed. Delia walks over to him to cheer him up out of range of everyone else. Evan walks straight over to me.

"How do you like that? That's what I call skill. You may have heard of it. You know you're pretty lucky to know an amazing trainer such as myself."

"Yes the look of pure fear on your face when that Lanturn started kicking your butt was definitely skill."

His smile falters a touch before he regains his composure. "Yeah well, I won so that makes me better. And I noticed plenty of girls checking me out during the match as well. It's probably the uniform showing off my incredible physique." He says while flexing. I decide to hold my tongue and not point out that he could probably be demolished in a fight with Meriah. So instead I turn to Greg.

"So I guess you're a little upset that you didn't get to battle, huh?" I ask.

"Actually I'm relieved. I've never been in a battle without my Pikachu, and as you may have noticed, he hasn't been around the past couple of weeks. It would have felt wrong to be battling knowing that he wouldn't be able to be a part of the action."

I get ready to ask him more but am cut off by the end of the ongoing match. It turns out that the team that won is a rival of one of the popular local teams so the crowd boos fairly loudly. Professor Oak decides that he wants to head out before the final match to beat the traffic, to which everyone agrees, though I wish we could stay and watch the last match, since a Division 5 match is always a treat to watch live. We walk out of the arena with luckily not that many people so I guess the Professor will get his wish to beat traffic. As we walk through the lobby, I see Mr. Perks again, talking to some kid. He looks up at me as we pass and gives me an evil smile before returning to his conversation with the kid. I look away quickly and decide to talk to Schuyler to get my mind off that cretin.

"You did admirably for the situation that you were in you know." I point out to him.

"Yeah I know. I just don't like losing. I'm tired of it. It makes me wonder if I'm even capable of winning." He says with a bit of dejection in his voice.

"Well of course you're capable of winning. You beat me the other day in that battle we had."

"Yeah, but that's not a real battle."

"Trust me, you can win. Look at the disadvantage you were at. You were going against a Rhydon, which is basically a huge, pissed off rock monster with a horn. You had no type advantage to use, you had big deficits in strength, and you still managed to make a good battle out of it. You did the best you could in that situation. You get a more even match-up and you would have won hands down, trust me."

He smiles just a bit. "Thanks Kasey."

"No problem."

We all pile into the van that took us to the arena and drive back to the airport and get back into the private jet. After some slight begging, the pilot turns on the radio to the broadcast of the final battle. We listen as the Fuchsia Team pulls off an exciting last pokemon victory over the Moon Team. Those poison types- don't underestimate them. We can hear the disappointment of the crowd over the radio. Even though the Moon Team isn't exactly the home team, they are a lot closer than the Fuchsia Team to Pewter. By the time that match is over, it's dark out so I just look outside the window at the lights of Viridian City and the surrounding suburbs. It's a really cool sight- I've never flown before today so the view amazes me. The lights look so small from up here. The cars going beneath us look like little toys. As we pass over the Viridian Forest, I can't help but be blown away by the sheer size of that area. I can't even imagine how many pokemon are living down there, eating their dinners, sending their young ones to sleep. I need to do this more often!

"Enjoying the view?" I hear from behind me. I turn around to see Greg.

"Yeah! I've never flown so this is quite an experience for me." I reply excitedly. He gives a soft chuckle.

"I remember the first time I flew on this thing. I was just as amazed as you are. Anyway, I wanted to ask you how it felt being in the stands today. It must have sucked."

I look down at my feet. I hadn't even thought about it. "Well, it was nice being able to see all the other teams battle. And I really had a good time cheering you guys on. I've never been on a team that had more than just me on it, so having some teammates to root for is a nice change." I pause, thinking some more. "But at the same time, I love being in a battle. I missed that feeling of being called out onto the field and having the crowd all around you cheering. Then you get that nervous feeling in your stomach right before the battle- I like that feeling. And then you get to the battle and everything else is pretty much drowned out and it's just you and your pokemon against the other guy and his pokemon. And then when the battle ends and you win, all the noise suddenly comes back and there's that feeling of victory. Wow I love that feeling. I hope to get back to that some day."

Greg listens to me with a smile on his face nodding the whole time. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I'm sure you'll be on the battlefield before too long. The Professor is bound to move you up to being a trainer on the team. Just look at how well you get along with Vikki. You watch- before too long he'll give you a second pokemon to work with and then another and before you know it, you've become our fifth trainer."

The way he says it, I can't help but get excited and believe what he says. He gets up and goes back to his seat while I look back outside and watch our final approach and landing.

--

After we land we go to a restaurant in Pallet Town to celebrate the victory. When we enter the restaurant, it is filled already with a lot of residents of the town. When they realize who has entered they start clapping and cheering for the team. The four of them shook hands and gave out some autographs to some people who wanted them. Meriah is getting a lot of attention, as I'm sure she usually does, but Evan is also getting a lot of attention. He looks a little flustered by being in the spotlight, but I'm sure he's enjoying it. I just sit at the table with everyone and watch with amusement everything that goes on. We are all given dinner on the house which is very nice of them. I'm having a good time talking to everyone and just chilling. Right before we are about to leave, a boy comes up to me wearing a white shirt and skinny black jeans.

"Excuse me, but are you Ryan Rayne?" he asks. I do a double take.

"What? Why would you say that? And who are you?" I ask quickly, looking around to make sure no one heard him.

"My name's JoJo. And I ask because I'm a big fan, and you have his eyes and smile. Those are my favorite parts about him."

I'm completely bewildered now as I look this guy over. The first thing I notice are the Beautifly hair clips he has in his hair. He looks to be about my age or a bit younger. He's got brown hair and green eyes that are currently looking at me with traces of excitement and worry.

"Don't make a scene." I warn him. "Yes I am him, but I should tell you that's not my real name. My real name is Kasey."

He starts squealing and clapping a bit with happiness and I tell him to quiet down. He sits down near me and immediately starts talking rapidly about how much he likes me and loves how I work with my pokemon and more about how much he likes me. I'm starting to freak out a bit now. Fangirls are one thing, but I don't think I've ever dealt with a fan_boy_ before.

"So is there something you want from me like an autograph or what?" I finally ask to stop him from talking.

"OMG would you really?" he asks, handing me a paper and pen. I quickly sign it, still making sure no one is noticing what is happening.

"Here you go. Just promise me that you will not tell anyone where I am or about my real name? I'm enjoying the privacy."

"Okay, I'll make you a deal. I won't tell as long as you battle me someday." he says with a fierce look in his eye.

"Um, okay. I'll be sure to do that."

"Great! By the way, love the new look. Blond hair makes you even hotter." he says. Then he jumps up and dashes out the door. That was interesting. I turn back to the table just as everyone is getting ready to go. We all leave to one last round of applause from the restaurant patrons before heading out the door and back home.

--

The next morning brings with it a feeling of a return to normalcy. Ever since that challenge came it's been stressful around the complex so it feels nice to return to being relaxed. After eating breakfast, Greg and I had gone outside where we've been sitting back in the sun relaxing and chatting about our lives before getting here and the misery that accompanied us. Vikki was lying down on the ground next to me. Out of the blue, we hear a loud "PIKA!" Greg immediately snaps up and looks in the direction of the noise. A Pikachu is bounding towards where he is and jumps up into his arms.

"Hey buddy! How have you been?" he asks as the Pikachu snuggles his neck. He holds it out at arm's length. You look good. I guess Rebecca took good care of you?" he asks. Pikachu nods and then turns and looks at me. Greg follows his gaze and walks over to me.

"This is my Pikachu I was telling you about. Pikachu, this is Kasey." Pikachu sticks out a paw for a handshake which I return, smiling about his nice manners. I guess it takes after its trainer. I then turn to Greg.

"Who is this Rebecca you mentioned?" I ask, intrigued.

"Oh, she's the Professor's assistant. She took Pikachu here with her to go visit Professor Rowan in Sinnoh. That's right, you haven't met her yet! Let's go inside, I'm sure she's talking to the Professor right now."

I follow Greg back into the house, his Pikachu perched on his shoulder. We walk around looking for the Professor and this Rebecca person before Greg finally finds them in one of the lab rooms in the basement going over some data sheets. I follow him into the room and stop in shock. She's…beautiful. She's got her brown hair tied up in a ponytail. As she turns around I see she's got light blue eyes. She has a pleasant face that looks like she smiles a lot. She's about four inches shorter than me and looks to be about my age (I hope). She looks at me and smiles and I can feel my heart flutter. The Professor also turns to look at Greg and me.

"Ah yes, you two haven't met yet. Rebecca, this is the newest member of the team, Kasey. Kasey, this is my lab intern Rebecca."

She reaches forward to shake my hand. I stare for a second before snapping back to my senses and returning the handshake. "Nice to meet you Kasey." She says with the voice of an angel.

"Likewise." I say, still looking into her eyes. She releases my hand and then goes back to showing the Professor whatever it is they were looking at before while I follow Greg back upstairs. This just made living at the house a whole lot more interesting.

**--**

**So I got the JoJo inspiration from one of the OC's and watching Blades of Glory. I think it's funny. Anyways, read and review as always!**

**Ketchum Kid- I hate that I can't reply to your reviews, but just know that I do listen to them!**


	11. Sulking

**I'm a little unsure about this chapter. It's more on the angsty side and has no real dialogue, but I think shows more of how Kasey actually is. Anyway, thanks to Cyrus, JoshDW, and Ketchum Kid for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 11-**

I stalk along the dirt path through the woods towards the lake that's nearby on the Professor's property that I had discovered a few weeks ago. I just need to get away from that house and relax and think for a bit alone. I hardly notice the pokemon that are making a living in the woods here or their frightened scurries as I come stomping through. All I can think about is getting to the lake. I've been so damn frustrated/angry/depressed the past few days it's starting to boil over into my actions. I was really close to getting into a fight with Evan after he again had a little comment about my being a bad trainer to Vikki. And over the past week I've cut myself three times. It's as if I'm starting to forget what happiness feels like. There's a cloud over my mind that's fogging everything I do.

Finally I can see the lake through the trees. It's a really picturesque setting- the lake is surrounded by willow trees and is very clean and actually has warm water in it. I think it's fed by a hot spring or something. I walk towards it and find a nice flat spot to lie down on- it's nice and grassy so I won't get all dirty and wet. Since it's a nice warm day, I take off my shirt and use it as something to lay my head on and I lay down on my back. I pull the music player out of my pocket that Greg lent to me the other day. Of course I made sure to put my kind of music on there- I like my music a little more hardcore than Greg does; I found that out quite quickly. I put the headphones on and start playing the music. I take a deep breath and start to go over everything that's been going on in my head.

--

So much of my frustration can be traced directly back to her. As has happened to many a man before me, I am vexed by a member of the opposite sex. Rebecca. When I get to thinking about her for some reason it causes me to go back to memories I don't particularly like reliving. I was astounded by her looks the second I laid eyes on her last week, but I know looks aren't everything. That lesson took a long time for me to learn. During the years I spent in the Celadon underground, the way I looked directly led to everything that happened to me.

The Celadon underground is hidden from the view of the general public. After all, Celadon is a place people go to when they're looking for a good time- what with the Game Corner and all the other attractions that cover the expanse of the city. Without a doubt, Celadon City is the seediest place in Kanto- you can get away with anything there. A married man can go there for a weekend and come back with no less than 4 grounds for divorce. "The city where morals go to die" is what I called it- you had your seven deadly sins, the ten commandments, basic human dignity all broken and left at the city limits. And this is what allowed the underground to grow in the first place.

The underground itself was basically the sewer system of the city. Naturally it wasn't all that clean, but there were plenty of places to build improvised shelters, and it was warm. The underground had been around a long time by the time I got there, and over time, it had become basically a large community that was underground, even receiving some help and financing from the city. The people of the underground were basically like one large extended family. And there was only one expectation if you were to live there- we all had to do our part in getting money for the food and supplies we all needed to survive.

People had a wide range of methods of doing this. Some people used their talents and played a musical instrument on a street corner- I knew a guy and girl that did duets on the guitar and sax, and another guy that sang and sounded really good. Some knit clothes and scarves and stuff and sold them at the market place while others did odd jobs across the town- the guys that knew a lot about cars were always able to find some work. Some people just shed all of their dignity and begged for money. Some participated in drug trials, sometimes taking three or four different things at a time. Others did work for Team Rocket, since they owned the Game Corner. They basically acted as mafia goons doing the whole break a guys arms for money or leave him in the middle of nowhere sort of stuff.

I did not have any particular talents, but I had my looks. The nice old ladies in the underground used to say I was the handsomest boy they knew and that I should be a model some day. Of course I have never thought of myself as particularly good looking, especially after the constant put downs of my step-father, so I never believed them. I just thought they were being nice to me. But that's beside the point. There were these two guys that lived down there that were like me in that they didn't have any real talents but were too proud to be reduced to begging or working for Team Rocket. They said I should be a part of their business. I was so happy that I'd be able to contribute back to the underground and not have to be kicked out that I eagerly accepted, not even knowing what I was getting into. If I had known though, would I have chosen differently? It still bothers me.

They told me that my job didn't require any thinking or hard work on my part at all. They would take care of almost everything for me. All I would have to do is go with someone that wanted my company for a night. And that person would always just tell me what they wanted. I was around 12 at this time, so it sounded great to me. They had a lot of people in the underground that worked with them- most of them were women, but there were a couple of guys too. The two that ran the business paired me with a guy that was a couple years older than me to show me the ropes. His name was Colton, but when we were on the street, his name was Ricky. He said I should have a fake name too, so we decided I would be called Jamie. Then he told me what would happen. Every couple of nights, we would go to a special part of the underground that was near to the heart of the city. We'd stay there over the course of the night, and people would come and visit us who were looking for someone to spend the night with. We'd go with them, do what they wanted, and then come home.

The whole premise was simple in theory. But in practice…the first night was-I can't even begin to describe it. Joy at being picked, anxiousness on what I'd be asked to do, confusion over the requests that were made of me, then fear and pain and an overwhelming sense of betrayal and hurt at what was done to me. I was so angry at everyone- why hadn't Colton told me what was coming. When I confronted him and the guys in charge, they calmed me down and told me I had made $250 for the underground. Think of how much food I was now able to contribute. Think about the nice old ladies and how they would be able to stay warm and fed in part thanks to me. And I had made a guy happy for a night. They fed me that and other propaganda to keep me doing more business with them.

I became fairly popular amongst the revelers of Celadon City. I was trotted out generally three or four nights a week, and was always picked by someone. Some of the other people were jealous of that, but I would have preferred being in their shoes given what I went through. I should add though that not every night was doing something sexual. Sometimes it was a man or woman who had lost a child and wanted to feel like a parent again or was a lonely person looking for some company. And I did my best to make the night enjoyable for these people. But when it came to the men and women looking for sex, well that was an entirely different story. Colton told me that the way he dealt with it was to completely detach any emotion from the job. Once things started happening that were particularly unenjoyable, I should just retreat to a happy place in my head and wait for it to be over. So that's exactly what I did. I would go through the motions leading up to the unpleasantness, never bothering to do anything really different for each person, and then I would retreat to my dreams of being a pokemon trainer until the person was finished with me. The only good thing about the job was that I would sometimes be given some extra money on the side, which I would put away to buy something nice from time to time like some new clothes or a book. This turned out to be the way I was able to pay the fee to get my trainer's license.

In my free time, I spent hours at the pokemon center watching battles on TV and listening to trainers talk about their battles. It stirred some emotions back in me and gave me something to hope for and dream about. When I wasn't doing that, I would read in the Celadon Public Library. I had liked reading when I was at home so I just continued doing that there. I liked reading about the history of pokemon training, about pokemon folklore, and stories about heroic pokemon trainers. It was this reading that allowed me to be well spoken, though I'll be the first to admit I'm not that smart. I wasn't exactly learning any math or science stuff. If it wasn't for pokemon training, I have no idea what my life would be like. I'd probably still be selling my body in Celadon. It's very difficult to be able to escape that life. Only a handful has ever gotten out of the underground back into society.

I can't believe that Rebecca is able to bring these memories up in my head. I guess I've lived such a messed up life so far that the idea of being in an actual relationship with someone seems like an impossibility- as if it is something that exists in the world but can only happen for others. I mean first of all, there's no way she would be even remotely attracted to someone like me. I'm just some hired hand of the professor's due to my being a failure as a trainer. I've tried to talk to her over the past week, but I wind up sounding like a moron and on top of that I don't even know what to talk with her about besides pokemon. She must think I'm stupid. The way she smiles when I start to talk with her, I just know she's probably trying to stop herself from laughing at me.

And then there's the whole emotional part of it. Would I even be able to handle it? I don't trust anyone in this world fully. I have some trust in the people that I live with right now. I would say I trust Delia and Greg the most. But I wouldn't dream of being completely open with even them about my past, my thoughts, my feelings… I just can't. I guess that's a side effect from the whole being emotionless thing from before.

--

Rebecca is just one thing that's weighing on my mind right now though. Another big thing is training. When Greg told me it was only a matter of time until the professor started letting me train more pokemon, I believed him. I was excited and looking forward to getting a chance to train with some of those awesome pokemon in the lab. I even found myself doing some research on the pokemon that I had remembered seeing in there and thinking up training and battle scenarios to work with them. But here I sit, and the professor has given me no indication that I'll be getting any more pokemon besides Vikki to work with, let alone be a trainer on his team.

Am I just wasting away my time here? I mean sure I like the people here, but I'm doing nothing with my life right now. I love training and battling, and if I can't do it with the Horizon Team, is there any point to me staying? Technically I'm not a real member of the team since I never signed a contract with the professor, so in the eyes of the Battling Commission, I'm a free agent. This really sucks, because I would love to be a trainer on this team. I think I could really help them get wins and even move up to Division 4. But what can I do about it? I could ask the professor, but he might think I'm crazy for asking such a thing of him. And Greg and Delia might be sympathetic but there' nothing they could really do for me either. It's this sort of thing that leads to me being frustrated.

I think another thing that's getting to me is being cooped up in that house. I'm used to being out and about. When I was in Celadon I could basically go all over the city and do whatever I pleased. I would go out with my friends that lived there and watch/make fun of the tourists. I would go to the park and watch the wild pokemon living their lives and interacting with each other. Then with both of my past teams, we lived in a trailer that travelled around from battle to battle. When it was time for training, the team owner would drive to the battle and I would walk, giving me time to work with the pokemon and battle both wild pokemon and other trainers. The point is that I was moving around a lot. Here, I have no opportunity or reason to go out training, and there's not exactly a lot to do in Pallet Town. You know you're in trouble if there isn't even a small battlefield in the town you're in.

And of course when you live with nine other people, privacy is a bit hard to come by. It seems like anytime I try to do something, someone is asking me why I'm doing it. I'm a fairly independent person, so to have all of this thrust on me is very nerve wracking. Ash and Gary are always running around getting in the way and being general nuisances. Evan is always trying to pull pranks on people. Greg is always getting up in my business. Delia is always looking to talk to me about something- I'm guessing she wants me to open up about the cutting that I so stupidly allowed her to find out about. And then there is the seemingly never ending stream of requests from the Professor.

I let out a sigh. I guess the worst part about all of this is it's all out of my control. I can't control how Rebecca feels or thinks about me. I can't make the professor give me pokemon or to hire me as a trainer. I can't change the way the people I'm living with interact with me. And I can't change my past. Really the only thing that's sort of in my control is whether or not I stay here, and even that's not in my control, because the only reason I'm not in jail right now is the professor agreeing not to call the cops if I do work for him. I have no idea when my servitude will be up.

--

I look down at the music player and find I've gone through almost three hours of music. Time really flies when you're musing I guess. I look up at the sun- it's high up in the sky now and it's starting to feel a little hot. I decide to go for a little dip in the lake. I take off my shoes and tuck the music player under my shirt, then jump in. The water feels really refreshing. As I swim around, some water pokemon come up to the surface to see what the disturbance is. A Horsea and Staryu try to play water tag with me, so I decide to join in. Eventually, another Horsea joins in along with a Luvdisc and a Goldeen.

After a while I start to get tired, so the Staryu pulls me back to the shore. I wave to the pokemon as they head back under the surface to resume whatever they were doing. I lay back down in the sun for a few minutes to dry off. Then I gather up my clothes and head back to the house to get some lunch. I'll have to head down to the lake more often. Playing with the pokemon was the most fun I've had in a while.

--

**Let me know what you all think. I must admit my confidence in myself as a writer had been slipping as of late, so reviews are much appreciated.**


	12. Thunderstorm

**Thanks to ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous, Ketchum Kid, MetalPrincess13, SunKat411, and Berry Eon for reviewing, and also thank you all for the words of encouragement. **

**--**

**Chapter 12-**

A loud clap of thunder wakes me up. I glance at the clock and see it's only about nine in the morning. As my heart stops pounding from the scare, I walk over to the window to see the storm. The rain is coming down really hard and the trees are being blown all over the place. I sit down on the window sill and gaze outside, watching as the storm's intensity rises and falls. Guess I won't be doing any training today. I look over at Vikki as she continues to sleep peacefully, which brings a smile to my face. I'm glad I've been able to make her happy, even if I'm not. I look down at my thighs and see the scabs and scars that line them. I sigh and readjust my shorts to cover them up and look back out the window- I really don't like to look at my handiwork that much.

Again I'm plagued by the thought of "what am I doing here?" I pick up the music player and put the headphones on as I think. The first song that plays is "Sleeping Sun" by one of my favorite bands, Nightwish. The beautiful, yet sad lyrics to the song fit my mood well. I just don't know what I'm going to do, but I do know if things don't change I won't be able to take it anymore. I wonder if I should run away from here. I doubt the Professor or Delia or anyone will bother to try and find me. I'm not really worth wasting their time on a search. And in all honesty, it wouldn't be a loss for them or anything since all I've really been is an assistant of sorts to the Professor, and even that has started to dwindle withe Rebecca being here. Then I can go out and get signed with a team that actually wants me as a trainer. The thought that I am so easily dispensable around here gives me an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. Is it regret, or maybe sadness? I don't know. As I continue to dwell on that thought, I feel something drop onto my shorts. I look down and see it's two drops of water. I reach up to my face and feel the wetness around my eyes. I've been crying and didn't even realize it.

I go over to the bathroom and splash some water on my face so I can look normal when I go down to breakfast. After a couple of minutes of composing myself, I head downstairs. As I head to the kitchen I see Gary, Ash, and Evan watching cartoons on TV. I shake my head and continue into the kitchen. Just as I'm entering, Meriah is on her way out. We exchange a round of "good mornings" to each other as we pass. When I get into the kitchen, I'm not surprised to see Delia there, but she's not alone, as Rebecca is in there too. They look up at me when I come in and say good morning to me. I nod to them as I grab a bowl and some cereal to eat. I take a seat across from Rebecca and feel that warm feeling in my stomach every time I'm near her.

"How are you today, Kasey?" Delia asks.

"Alright." I say.

"You know, I was thinking about driving to the Cerulean Mall today when the rain lets up. So far only Rebecca here is going with me. Would you like to come? I know you've been wanting some new clothes." she said. I could do with some new shirts and a new pair of shoes. Being a Horizon Team billboard for the past few weeks has gotten a bit old.

"I suppose I'll go." Delia claps her hands with excitement and turns to Rebecca who also has a big grin on her face. Something tells me this was a set-up. Whatever. I guess I'll find out what they have planned for me when the time comes. After I finish eating, barely having listened to the shopping talk the two women had been having, I get up to go upstairs and change.

"We'll be leaving in about fifteen minutes, Kasey." she calls out to me. I nod and head back to my room to get ready. After getting into some clean clothes and brushing my teeth, I head back down, grabbing the music player so I have something to do on the ride. Delia and Rebecca are waiting by the door. Delia hands me a jacket and I put it on as we head out to the garage. We head over to one of the four cars that the Professor has. I was surprised when I found out he had that many cars- I have no idea why he needs them, but oh well. Delia gets behind the wheel and I climb into the back seat. I'm shocked when Rebecca gets in the back with me. I decide to give her a questioning look.

"What, I wanted to talk with you and it's hard to turn your head the whole time." she said with a smile. I get another pleasurable squirm in my stomach at the fact that she wants to talk to me, but then it goes away quickly when I realize our talks make me sound idiotic. Delia starts the car and backs down the drive and sets us on course to Cerulean City.

"So what music do you listen to on that thing?" Rebecca asks.

"Um, well a bunch of stuff, I guess. I like mostly rock music but I also like some metal and some alternative music as well. What music do you like?"

"I like pop music too, and some country. But really I'll listen to anything with a good beat to it."

"Have you ever been to a concert?"

The conversation went on for the whole trip to the mall. I was amazed that we were able to talk so easily. We talked about music and then moved to movies we liked and then books we've read. Delia chimed in at times as well, but mostly it was just Rebecca and I talking. When I saw us pulling into the mall parking lot, it felt like the trip had been ten minutes, not the actual one hour. I'm starting to think that this trip was an excellent idea. We walk into the mall and immediately head towards a clothes store. Delia practically drags me into the men's section.

"I'm so excited to be able to do this. With Ash I only get to pick out kids clothes, so you'll be a breath of fresh air in my shopping!" Delia says gleefully, and I notice Rebecca seems just as happy to be able to shop. Then she and Rebecca immediately go into what I'll call "shopping mode."

Both of them get a determined look on their faces. They step back from me and look me over from head to foot, making me feel very self-conscious. Then they take off in separate directions, leaving bewildered as to what is going on. It's made clear to me as they come back in two minutes, each holding about four pairs of pants.

"Pants first." Delia says. "We need to get the size right first, and then move onto style. I want you to put each of these on and for each one you have to come out of the changing room and show us what it looks like on you." she commands. They dump the pants into my hands and push me into the changing room.

By the sixth pair of pants I'm starting to feel a twinge of regret for coming on this trip. Every time I go out, they look at where the pants come to on my legs, then see how much room there is at my waist, then make me turn around twice to see the whole picture. More than once I hear the phrase "they don't fit his butt right," much to my embarrassment. Finally we get through the eight pants and I'm relieved to be able to move on. I realize my mistake the instant I see them coming back with more pants. I had forgotten about the style part of the pants mission. I hang my head and sigh as I'm pushed once again into the dressing room.

After a half hour of trying on pants, Delia and Rebecca begin to debate about which pants to get. Whenever I try to give my opinion about the clothes, they just look at each other and laugh- I guess I have no fashion sense. In the end they settle on four pants- two jeans, one khaki, and one black.

"We're done with pants now right?" I ask warily.

"Yes, now it's time for shirts!" they say in unison, once again dragging me along for the ride. Luckily for the shirts mission (yes, I firmly believe now that shopping with women is a dangerous mission, only to be attempted by the most battle tested of men), all I have to do is stand there as they hold shirts up to me and see the effect. In what seems like no time at all there is a pile of about twenty shirts in the "good" pile and about forty in the "no" pile. I feel sorry for the worker who has to put things back on their proper racks. Once again a debate ensues which I don't even bother participating in this time over which shirts to get. Luckily for me, the final selection of six shirts seems good to me. They also pick up a few plain colored t-shirts to mix with the other shirts.

The final mission is the most dangerous- shoe shopping. Again, this time I just sit back as they take my shoe size and go off looking for the best shoes. They come back with twelve boxes. Again I sigh as I pull off my old shoes and begin trying on the new ones. For each pair of shoes they make me walk away from them and back towards them and grill me on the feel of each shoe. After another half hour regimen of trying on shoes, walking, and debating, they get me a pair of black shoes with some red and white mixed in.

"Are we done?" I ask once more, praying to hear the word yes.

"Yes, I think that's good for now." Delia says. I sigh in relief, but then look over at all the clothes in the cart. A horrible thought punches me in the gut.

"Uh, Delia, I don't think I can afford all of these clothes. I only have about 200 dollars in my account." I say, doing my best not to sound ashamed of my status as "poor."

Delia looks at me like I have two heads. "Kasey, why would you think you're paying for this? The Professor has more than enough money to cover this. He wanted you to have some new clothes to help you feel more comfortable back home. You are a part of the team you know." She says, smiling.

"I'm honored, but that's way too generous of the Professor." I say, shocked that he'd be willing to spend money for me. "I couldn't accept that much of a gift."

"Nonsense. You're getting these clothes and that's final. And don't even think about feeling like you owe him or something like that." she says as she head towards the cash register.

I follow behind her, still shell-shocked that they would be willing to spend this kind of money on me. I mean, I know those shoes had to be at least forty dollars or more. Delia doesn't let me see what the total is when everything gets checked out. And Rebecca does her best to distract me by showing me the little trinkets they keep near the registers. I am forced however to carry the bags. How ironic- I don't even want the clothes, and I still have to carry them. Thankfully we head over to the food court. I don't even realize how hungry I am until my stomach makes a pretty big growl. I get us a table as the other two go and get some food. I sit there and watch the people walking around the mall, most acting like they haven't a care in the world. That must be a nice feeling. I only get to watch for a few minutes before the dynamic shopping duo return with a mouth watering sub that I finish in about three minutes. When I'm hungry, look out.

"Are you sure you still have all your fingers?" Delia asks lightly. I stick out my tongue at her , then look just to be sure. All ten are there.

I sit back and listen as Delia and Rebecca chat airily about anything under the sun. They get along really well. My name comes up a couple of times and I contribute slightly but in general I just sit back and let them enjoy their conversation. After about twenty minutes, they make it clear they are ready to head out to do more shopping.

"Can I put these bags in the car first?" I ask, not ready to carry the bags for however long the two plan to continue shopping.

"Oh, of course Kasey." Delia says, reaching for the keys in her pocket and handing them to me.

"I'll go with Kasey." Rebecca says. "Why don't you check out that beauty place you were talking about Delia and we'll meet you at the bookstore?"

"Alright, I'll see you two there." Delia says as she turns and walks away. Rebecca and I head in the opposite direction towards the parking lot.

We walk towards the car in relative silence. A Wingull flies over us and gives a loud call. Rebecca looks up at it and smiles.

"You know, I saw you the other day when you were playing with the water pokemon in the lake." Rebecca says, smiling at me. I look down and feel a little warmth in my cheeks from embarrassment.

"You saw that huh?" I ask

"What game were you playing with them? It looked like a lot of fun." she says playfully.

"We were playing water tag." I answer sheepishly.

"I see." she says. We get to the car and I put the bags in the trunk and slam it shut. "It was really cute how you got along with those pokemon and played with them so easily."

What did she just say? I could of sworn she just said cute. And is she blushing? She is! What do I do?

"Of course, the view after you got out of the water wasn't that bad either." she says, looking me straight in the eye and taking a step closer to me. Okay Kasey, breath. You've been with girls before. Though none of them can hold a candle to the stunning beauty of the girl in front of me. Oh boy, what do I do? I look into her eyes and suddenly realize the answer to my question. I close the distance between us and put my hand on her cheek. She gives me a look that seems to say "keep going." Oh please let this be what I think it is. Alright Kasey, just do it now! I lean in towards her face and close my eyes, hoping beyond hope to feel her lips against mine…

**--**

**A/N-It's been a while hasn't it? School started up for spring semester and with it came a truckload of drama. I mean, I've felt like I'm some TV show from hell. I'll try to update when I can, but between classes and some new commitments I've been forced into, it could be few and far between. Hopefully not though. Anyway, enough about me. Tell me what you're thinking by pressing that review button...**


	13. Improving

**Been a while. Thanks to Ketchum Kid, ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous, JoshDW, and MetalPrincess13 for reviewing!**

**--**

**Chapter 13-**

Wow. I'm kissing a beautiful girl that I've been crushing on for the past three weeks. And it's the most incredible feeling in the world. The kiss is completely PG- no tongue or anything. But the feelings erupting in my stomach and the feeling like I have electricity running through my lips right now make it one of the most pleasurable experiences I've ever had. It's over too soon as she pulls away and looks up in my eyes.

"Woah." is all she says.

"Yeah." I reply back stupidly.

We stand there grinning at each other and staring into the others eyes for a full minute before we snap back to our senses and remember that Delia is waiting for us in the mall. A million things are running through my mind as we walk back towards the mall, and apparently Rebecca is having a similar problem, and she beats me to the punch to getting things in the open.

"I'm so relieved you like me back." she says with a hint of excitement in her voice. "I was so worried that you've just been messing with me the past couple of weeks since you kept acting all weird around me. I thought it was just the old hot guy messing with the nerdy girl trick or something."

I look at her with my mouth hanging open. "You thought I was messing with you?" I say with a hint of amusement. "I was so blown away by this beautiful girl talking to me that I just completely lost my ability to talk coherently. I thought for sure you thought I was an idiot or something, only talking about pokemon and sounding retarded doing so." Then I pause for a second. "Nerdy girl, huh?" I ask her cheekily.

She laughs at that statement. "Shut up. So I guess we have a big effect on each other, huh?"

"You could say so."

"So where do we go from here?"

That is quite a question. "I don't really know. I've never been in a relationship with anyone before, if that's what you mean."

"Neither have I. But I think I want to with you."

"You mean like, you'd be my girlfriend?" I say, trying to keep my voice even so as not to betray my overwhelming giddiness at where this conversation was heading.

"Only if you'll be my boyfriend." she says. Um, let me think, YES YES YES!

"Sure, that's cool." I say calmly. Her face lights up with a dazzling smile that makes her look prettier than ever, and I can't help but grin too.

"But what about everyone else? I mean, is the Professor going to be okay with you going out with me? And what about the rest of the team? What are they all going to say?" I ask, concern lacing every word I say.

"Umm, I don't really know. I know Delia will be okay with it."

"How can you be so sure?" I ask.

"Well, I sort of told her how I feel about you." she says, a sheepish look on my face. My earlier thoughts of this being a set-up come back to me. "She said to go for it and if it's meant to be, it'll happen."

"Sounds like good advice." I say.

"But I don't know about the Professor and the rest of the team. How about we just lay low with our relationship for a while until we can get a read on how everyone would feel about it. We won't even tell Delia."

"Are you sure you can do that?" I ask, not even sure if I can.

"Only if you can."

I sigh. This is going to be tricky.

--

The next two days I'm kept so busy that keeping the relationship a secret comes pretty easily. The Professor has me helping him with some of the bigger pokemon in the underground reserve. We've been nursing back to health a Torterra and Tropius, both of whom seem to have gotten some sort of infection that affects only plant types. The bigger pokemon have been taking it worse than the smaller ones, who bounced back fairly quickly. We are collecting several samples to send off to some of the other pokemon researchers on the continent for further study. The Professor is also taking samples from the Abomasnow that he had been loaned to study for the past week to see if its dual type is preventing it from getting sick. And by the Professor is taking samples, I mean that I am the one taking samples. Taking blood samples from a pokemon that is kind of scary looking and can freeze you to death is a harrowing ordeal. Besides that little source of enjoyment, I've also been helping him with his continued experiments on the Kangaskhan and Onix (just as fun as the last time!) and also doing some training type work with a Flygon (I think I can get used to that part of the job).

As far as Rebecca and me, the most we've had are three quick make-out sessions and stealing glances at each other at meal times. As far as I can tell, she hasn't really asked the Professor what his stance is on dating people in the house, and I haven't actually gotten to know the team's opinions on the matter either. As it happens, I find myself ready to broach the topic with Greg and Schuyler during a training session in the gym (we need to stay in shape too!)

"So, does anyone around here ever have time to go looking for chicks?" I ask. Real smooth Kasey.

"What do you mean?" Schuyler asks.

"You know, hooking up with someone, I don't know, having a girlfriend or something." I explain.

"I haven't really put any effort into it, how about you Greg?" Schuyler asks, as we both turn towards him. His eyes are slightly narrowed and he casts me an accusatory glare.

"What are you getting at Tristan?" he asks, a little more forcefully than necessary.

"I'm not getting at anything. What's your problem?" I ask, bewildered by the attitude.

"I know what this is about. You have someone in mind you want to hook up with don't you?"

I immediately feel heat in my cheeks and I know I'm blushing. "Maybe. Is that a problem for you?"

"Depends on who the person is." he says coolly.

"What difference does it make? Are certain people off limits?"

Now it was his turn to blush. "Well, er, yes, um… you shouldn't hook up with your teammates so that means Meriah is definitely off limits." he says unconvincingly. Schuyler's eyebrows rise so high that they disappear under his hair, showing he's pretty skeptical about that statement as well.

"Uh-huh. And what does Meriah have to say about that?" I ask calmly.

"She would agree. Definitely." Greg says while nodding his head as if to reassure himself that it's correct. I think I can see what this is about.

"So you're saying you would never want to hook up with Meriah." I ask with a hint of amusement in my voice. His cheeks begin to get even redder than before.

"O-of course not." he stutters. Yeah, I'm not buying it.

"So if I went to Meriah and asked her out and she disagreed with your whole teammates not dating policy, then I'm in the clear since you are not interested in doing that." I ask.

"NO! That's not what I meant."

"For Mew's sake Greg, quit the charade! I've seen the way you act with her and the look in your eye when you see her. You're head over heels for the girl. Admit it!" I say, practically shouting.

"Oh yeah? Well how about coming clean with whatever's going on between you and Rebecca!" he counters.

Now it's my turn to blush even harder. "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, no one can see those little looks you've been giving each other at every meal." he says sarcastically. "Plus, I've never seen Rebecca as happy as she's been the past couple of days."

"I agree Kasey." Schuyler says, finally joining the battle.

"Well, maybe we're a couple now. Happy?" I say, irritably.

A big grin comes across Schuyler's face while Greg's jaw opens in half shock.

"Really?" Greg asks.

I start to feel a little shy. "Yeah. It was at the mall. It just sort of happened." I explained lamely.

"That's so cool! I'm completely jealous." Schuyler says.

I look at Greg. "Do you have a problem with this Greg?" I ask quietly. "Your opinion matters a lot to me."

He looks at me critically for a bit. Finally he sighs and says "No, I don't have a problem with it. I'm happy for you guys."

I can feel relief course through my body. "Thanks guys. And for the record Greg, I think you and Meriah would be great together. You should ask her."

"Totally dude." Schuyler says.

"Yeah, I'll get on that." Greg mutters.

"Oh yeah, keep this on the DL for now." I add quickly. "The Professor doesn't know, and Rebecca wants to check if he'd have a problem with it before we go official."

"Don't worry about that." Schuyler says. "There's no way the Professor would have a problem with it."

--

After our little pow-wow in the weight room, things go pretty much back to normal. I tell Rebecca about what happened while I was "helping" her in the lab and she takes the news well, leading to another all too short make-out session. I decide to let Meriah in on the secret as well. She responds, by clapping her hands and awwwing, saying that it was cute. Whatever. There's no way I would tell King Blabbermouth Evan about this until Rebecca could gauge the Professor's feelings on the matter. That was proving to be difficult since he has been away a lot on a guest-lecturing circuit at the local universities in addition to his research.

During his time away, he has me doing a lot of training type work with various pokemon in the lab to keep up their strength. I find myself working a lot with the plant types, and I'm extremely pleased to see they are well on their way to recovering from the virus they had. It turned out to be a slightly mutated form of some virus that was treatable with a lot of antibiotics.

I can't help but notice that there are no battle challenges coming in for the team. Greg tells me that a lot of teams around our rank don't usually see a lot of battling in the three months leading up to the division championship tournament. We're locked in, but right around the middle of the pack (I found out we moved from 39th to 34th with the convincing win over Team Guardian). Teams looking to move in want to challenge teams in the bottom half if their conservative or teams near the top if their gutsy. The teams in the bottom are just looking to stave off challengers from below, and teams at the top don't feel like battling anyone good at all.

"The Professor thinks mid-pack is a great place to be. It's a place to fly under the radar." he explains. "Plus he says we have a great chance at surprising everyone at the tournament this year." I guess that makes sense.

Finally, about two weeks since the mall trip, the Professor finishes his lecture series and starts to get back into his normal routine. Now is Rebecca's chance to get around to coaxing the information we need out of him. I've been so nervous and excited about what his response will be it's been torture.

--

I head out of the lab after another hard day of working with the grass pokemon. I love working with those guys, and their loyal to a fault, but it's a tiring job. I'm covered in grass stains, and have several cuts from various grass type attacks (you know those little cuts you get playing around in tall grass that don't hurt per say, but itch like crazy once you get all sweaty? Those cuts, like, everywhere). I start to head up the stairs to take a shower when the Professor calls out to me to stop.

"Kasey, I have something very important I want to talk to you about. Come get me when you're done with your shower." He has a serious look on his face.

"Uh, sure Professor." I say in response.

As I walk into my room, panic clutches my chest. Did he figure out what was going on between Rebecca and me? Greg had said it was obvious, but the Professor hasn't been around that much to notice, has he? Is he not okay with it? Is he going to end our relationship before it even got a chance to get somewhere? All these thoughts swirl in my head as I take my shower. The warm water does little to soothe me, though it definitely irritates all those damn scratches. After deciding to make the shower as quick as possible, I get dressed and head downstairs to face my judgment. I walk to the Professor's office and knock on the door.

"Come in." he says. I walk through the threshold and see the Professor looking out the window at the open fields. After a minute, he turns to me.

"Let's take a walk Kasey." he says, motioning for me to follow him. We walk side by side down the hall towards the lab.

"How have you been feeling the past few weeks?" he asks, sounding genuinely interested.

"I've been doing well." I answer cautiously, not sure of his intentions.

"The grass pokemon seem to be back to full health or even stronger. You've done a great job working with them."

"I have to say it's been very satisfying making them healthy again. I love training with pokemon."

"Indeed. Delia told me about what happened at the mall." My heart stops beating and I look up at him.

"What do you mean?" I manage to croak out.

"About how you wanted to pay for the clothes." I breathe a sigh of relief. "I want you to know that you should not feel obligated to have to pay anyone back for that. You deserve it."

"It's in my nature to not really just get something without doing something in return, Professor." I explain. Boy if that isn't the truth in more ways than one.

"What do you mean do nothing? You've been a tremendous help to me in the lab, as well as an excellent friend to everyone here. Clearly you underestimate how much of a role you've played on the team since you got here, Kasey."

"I suppose, sir. People have told me that I'm too hard on myself."

"I can see that, and would have to agree. Holding yourself to a high standard is admirable, but remember to congratulate yourself on your success as well."

I nod in agreement and we walk on, finally reaching the lab and walking in. It's pretty much empty save for some equipment that's left out. The constant hum of the computers and generators has a soothing effect on me for some reason, which I hope will be enough to get me through whatever consequences this conversation will bring. The Professor motions for me to sit down at a lab bench. I sit as he takes up a position on the opposite side of the bench from me. I guess this is it.

"So as I said, there's something I wanted to talk to you about. During my time out lecturing, your name came up a couple of times."

My head snaps up to look him in the eyes. "_Please don't let it be bad things." _I think silently.

"It seems as if there is quite a fascination over the sudden disappearance over the popular young trainer Ryan Rayne." he says with a trace of amusement.

"You don't say." I reply with a complete lack of enthusiasm.

"Indeed. It seems as if Mr. Perks has been staying pretty silent on the fact that he fired you. I went and looked up your official record in the Battling Commission database. It said that you were under contract still with the Liberty Team."

"You mean he never filed me as a free agent?" I ask, stunned. I've never had to take care of any paperwork on the Commission side of things, and have no idea how things work. The team owner always took care of it I assumed. "What does this mean for me?"

"Well, it's a good thing you haven't done any battling for someone else or it would officially be a breach of contract violation on your part and you could have gone to the Trainer's stand."

The Trainer's stand is the last place you ever want to go. It's the nickname for what happens whenever you get in big trouble with the PBC. They make you stand (literally and figuratively) before a disciplinary board that decides what kind of punishment you deserve for committing a rules infraction. Many a trainer has walked out of that place no longer a trainer. I shiver involuntarily at the thought of having my trainer's license revoked.

"Needless to say, that would have been quite bad for you. So I decided to look into things for you and help you out. I met with Mr. Perks last week to have a discussion."

I look at him wide eyed. He actually had gone through the trouble to meet with that cretin?

"I talked to him about what he was doing regarding your contract. He said that he was holding onto your contract to, how did he put it… 'to keep you from training as punishment for your failures' or something along those lines."

I can feel my blood begin to boil over that fact that the stupid son of a bitch still was trying to control my life even after firing me and humiliating me. I start to grind my teeth and grip the counter top to keep me from punching a wall.

"I was less than impressed over his reasoning to do such a thing. I asked him if he thought he was being fair to you and it made it clear to me that was unimportant to him. He also said he was waiting until he had successfully found a replacement for you. He said that he had. He also said that holding onto your contract made the team look good, even if you weren't battling. This did not sit well with me at all as you can imagine." Oh, I can imagine. "So I asked him what it would take for him to declare you a free agent. He told me it would take you begging on your hands and knees to be a free agent, as well as signing a deal that would guarantee him half a million dollars from your next owner."

"But no one would ever pay that much money for me! Not to mention I sure as hell would never give that bastard the satisfaction of seeing me grovel before him." I said tersely. This conversation has been a nightmare. I'll never be a trainer again.

"Yes, I figured as much. So I decided to negotiate with him. I informed him that I had evidence that he had abused you when you were under his employ, which would be turned over to the police if he did not file for your free agency within 24 hours. I also informed him that I had taped our entire conversation, and that he was in violation of no less than 3 clauses of the Trainer's Rights Act."

All I can do is gape wide mouthed at the Professor. "Wow, you're quite a negotiator." I say.

"I like to think so." he says with a smile. "Mr. Perks did not like what I had to say, but had no choice but to bow down to my demand. Documentation was received by the PBC one week ago today that Kasey Mathews aka Ryan Rayne was no longer under contract by the Liberty Team."

I stay silent for a minute. Now that I'm actually a free agent, I can be approached by any team to sign a deal to be a trainer for them. Too bad I had "disappeared."

"That's cool Professor. So what does all of this mean?" I ask.

"Well, there's a little bit of paperwork you have to take care of. First I need you to sign this paper declaring that you agree to be a free agent." he says, sliding me a pen and an official looking piece of paper. I sign it and slide it back to the Professor.

"Alright, now you're officially a free agent." he says, looking over the paper.

"Great, so what do I do now?" I ask, not feeling all that different since I've been under the assumption I was a free agent along.

"Well, it's really up to you isn't it? As far as I'm concerned, you've completely paid back your debt to me for the whole stealing incident over the past couple of months. You are now free to pursue whatever it is that you want."

Once again I'm completely taken aback. I'm free? But I don't want to leave! What about Rebecca? What about my friends here? What about the pokemon? I mean sure it might be nice to test the waters of free agency, but it doesn't look good to get fired by a Division 2 team for losing too much (even though that's a matter of opinion). I look back up at the Professor with a frown on my face.

"I don't know what to do." I say despairingly. The Professor nods his head and reaches into a drawer and pulls out a folder. He opens it and takes out a pile of papers and hands it to me.

"I thought you might have some trouble with that, and I looked into a really good opportunity for you. Go ahead and look over that packet." he says encouragingly.

I read over the paper but it's worded kind of confusingly. I decide to skip to the last page and am relieved to find a summary. It says it's a contract to declare that I can officially sign with a new team so long as I met some requirements. The requirements include being an official free agent, following the rules of the PBC, officially coming out to the public that I hadn't disappeared… wait what? Who wrote this? I flip to the page with all of the fill in the blanks with the information on the team I would sign with. When I read the words, all I can do is stare. I look down for the team owner's signature and there it is, plain as day: Samuel Oak, Owner-Horizon Team. I look back up at the Professor and see Meriah, Greg, Schuyler, and Evan standing behind him, smiles on all of their faces. I turn to my side and see Delia and Rebecca standing in the doorway smiling as well.

"Kasey, I would be honored if you would sign on to be a trainer for the Horizon Team." the Professor says, putting a pen in my hand. I look over at Greg.

"We all want you to be an official teammate of ours, Kasey." he says.

"Yeah, we don't want you signing up with someone else and having to go against you." Evan adds. Of course not.

I look over at Delia and Rebecca. Both of them look at me and give me an encouraging nod. I look back up at the Professor. He has a gentle smile on his face, letting me know that he would accept my decision either way. Not that it's a hard decision to make. I grin broadly and happily sign my name on the contract. Everyone starts to clap and congratulate me. I share handshakes with my new teammates and new owner, and get a big hug from Delia. But the biggest surprise comes when Rebecca comes over, wraps her arms around me, and gives me the best kiss we've ever shared. We break apart after about thirty seconds to the amused stares of the rest of those present.

"No way, you two are together?" Evan asks. Everyone else just simply laughs.

**--**

**A/N- Yay for spring break and actually getting to do some writing! I've never written romance-y stuff, so I hope you all like where it's going so far. **


	14. Physical

**Thanks to MetalPrincess13, ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous, Ketchum Kid, JoshDW, and Berry Eon for reviewing!**

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**Chapter 14-**

I wake up to the feel of Rebecca's lips on mine. I open my eyes as she pulls away and smile, which in turn causes her to smile.

"Time to get up, cutie." she says.

"I think I could stand to wake up like that every day." I say contentedly.

"I bet you could." she replies seductively, slowly leaning down for another kiss. Just as I close my eyes and get ready to feel her lips again, I feel the covers ripped off my body and a rush of cool air cascades over me. My eyes snap open to see her holding my bed sheets with an evil smile on her face.

"I couldn't resist." she says, stifling a giggle. Whatever. It would take a lot more than that to get me actually angry at her. I climb out of bed and head to the bathroom while throwing her a dirty look.

"Don't be long- you've got your physical today and Delia wants to leave in half an hour!" she calls to me as she leaves my room. Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that. The professor informed me last week after I signed the contract that all new trainers for Division 3, 4, and 5 teams have to pass a League physical in order to participate on the team. I guess they want the unhealthy people to not be in the spotlight with the good teams. I'm in fine health so today shouldn't be a problem. I do my normal morning routine and head down for breakfast. As I enter the kitchen, I'm greeted by Delia, Evan, Greg, and Schuyler.

"So he's going to be getting lots of shots today, right Delia?" Evan says in that ever present teasing voice.

"I don't know. Maybe?" Delia says uncertainly. "You're not afraid of needles are you Kasey?" she asks, turning towards me with a concerned face.

"Um, no." I reply matter-of-factly. Given all the other things that have happened to my body, the thought of being scared of a needle is laughable. Delia's face relaxes noticeably while Evan frowns at his failure to rouse me. I pour myself some cereal and chat with the others about training stuff. Over the past week the Professor has had me work out with several different pokemon in his lab to try and get a feel for which types I work best with. He also had taken me to a couple other research facilities to work with the types that he didn't have at the lab. Obviously given my teammates we didn't bother working with Fire, Psychic, Flying, Dark, Ground, Ghost, Electric, or Water types, but I did have fun working with several pokemon of the other types. The Professor hasn't decided yet which one's he wants me to settle on, though I told him definitely not Ice, Fighting, or Normal, and preferably not Poison or Bug types either. But I guess I'll have to see what he feels is best for the team.

"Well Kasey, it's about time to go now, ready?" Delia asks while standing up.

"Yeah, let's go."

--

The drive to the doctor doesn't take that long. The office is in Viridian City. I note that it sure is a lot quicker driving through the Viridian Forest than walking through it. During the drive, Delia and I talk about how we're going to handle the big announcement of my signing with the team. She says she's been in contact with the League and that they want to have on the Pokemon League Channel since they want to milk my marketability for all it's worth or something. There would be some statements by the Professor and me followed by a question and answer session with any reporters that are interested. Probably not that many. Or should I say, hopefully not that many.

Finally we get there and go in. It looks like a standard doctor's office waiting room, complete with chairs, magazines, and toys for little kids. Delia talks to the person at the counter while I take a seat. Delia comes back with several forms that she makes me fill out all about my personal information and past medical history. I fill it out to the best of my ability and Delia assures me that it's fine that I left some things blank. She takes the forms back to the lady at the front desk, and then we wait. After about fifteen minutes of idly flipping through a magazine that in one article claims that "Missing trainer Ryan Rayne has gone off to join a cult" a nurse comes and calls me back. I follow her back to a room where she weighs and measures me, then follow her to another room where she tests my vision and hearing, then finally follow her to the exam room.

"The doctor will be in shortly." she says, leaving my chart on the table. I look around the room at all the cool things they always keep in the exam rooms like the thing they use to look in your ears and the reflex tester and the medical supplies. Just as I'm contemplating stealing a couple of tongue depressors for the hell of it, the door opens and the doctor enters. He's a young guy- definitely in his thirties. He has a pleasant look on his face that I'm sure helps keep his patients at ease.

"So you must be Kasey- pleasure to meet you, I'm Dr. Hammond." he says in a deep, friendly voice.

"Nice to meet you." I reply.

"So, joining the Horizon Team, huh? Congratulations on that."

"Thanks- it's a great opportunity for me."

"No doubt about that. So why don't we get started, okay?"

"Sure." I say as he takes a seat on a stool while I sit down on the table.

"How do you feel generally?" he asks

"I don't really get sick, so I feel pretty good." I reply.

"How is your appetite?"

"Usually it's fairly good; sometimes there are times when I'm not that hungry." I answer truthfully. He takes down a note of that.

"Have you ever smoked?"

"No."

"Have you ever done any drugs?"

"No."

"Are you sexually active?"

Uh-oh, how do I answer that one? My hesitation causes the doctor to look up from his notepad at me. "Tell the truth- it's important." he says seriously.

"I've been…fairly active." I answer slowly.

"How many partners have your had?"

I think about how phrase an answer that doesn't make me seem like some kind whore, even if that pretty accurately describes what I was. "Let's say more than I care to remember."

Now he's looking at me with a very serious look on his face. "Was this sex consensual? Were you sexually assaulted or raped?"

"No!" I say, waving my hands. "It was my decision." I close my eyes and sigh. "Look, I used to live in the Celadon underground, and in order to get money, I worked as a go-go dancer and…. as a male escort- if you get my drift. Then after that I had a couple of flings while I was travelling as a trainer." What can I say? I guess all that time doing stuff in the underground gave me a hormone overdrive because I was disgustingly horny when I travelled with my old teams. And it wasn't exactly hard to get with someone that wanted to sleep with me given all the practice I had.

"Are you kidding me? How long did this last? How many people did you do things with? Actually, what things did you do?"

"I don't know. I probably did the underground for a year and a half I guess, so I guess I did at least a couple hundred people. And as far as what kind of sex, let me just leave it at pretty much everything under the sun."

"Jeez." he mutters, shaking his head and giving me a look of disbelief and pity. "Wait, did you use protection at least?" he asks quickly.

I stop to think about that for a second. I'm not so sure that I did.

"I don't think I did every time." I answer with a frown.

"That was incredibly irresponsible for both you and the person you were with!" he says with a raised voice. "Do you realize you could have been given a sexually transmitted disease? You could have any number of diseases. I'm ordering blood cultures right away, and I'm ordering an HIV test." he says, scribbling onto my chart the various orders.

My blood freezes when he says HIV. I know full well that if I have that, there's no way I can be a trainer, not to mention I have a death sentence. I lean back in the chair and stare at the wall. What if I have it? How could I have been so stupid? Thank heavens I haven't done anything with Rebecca yet- if I had given it to her I wouldn't be able to live with myself. The doctor looks back over at me and must see that I'm on the verge of freaking out as his face turns to one of concern.

"Kasey, I'm sorry I raised my voice at you. I want you to take a deep breath. It's not likely that you have HIV. I'm just being thorough. And I promise you that I won't tell anyone about the HIV test. It's strictly confidential. I'm going to do the rest of your physical, and then I'll have the nurse come in and draw the blood for the test. We'll do the test and we'll have the results in about fifteen minutes. Do you understand?" he asks gently. All I can do is numbly nod my head.

The rest of the physical passes by in a blur. He has me take off my shirt and listens to my heart and lungs. Then he has me drop my pants. I'm so preoccupied by the HIV test, that I totally forget why I never let people see me in just my boxers.

"Oh my. Kasey, what happened to your legs?"

I look down and sure enough, I can see plenty of the criss-crossing scars across my thighs from beneath my boxers. All I can do is look back up at the doctor and sigh.

"These are self inflicted I take it?" he asks. I nod in response.

"Well, no contest, you're easily my most interesting patient to date." he says, shaking his head. He finishes with the exam and tells me I can put my clothes back on. I get dressed, stealing glances at the chart that he's writing on- stuff about me, but what stuff? And who exactly gets to take a look at these records? The worried feeling in my stomach intensifies. I sit down and wait for him to stop writing. Finally after a minute he sets his pen down and looks at me- his face shows a mix of sympathy and sternness.

"Okay Kasey, let's talk. First off, the nurse will be in here after I leave to take the blood for the test. Now almost all of labs will take some time to get back since they're done at another facility. However, we can run the HIV test here, and it only takes 15 minutes like I said before. You can stay here and get the results then. You're also going to get a couple of booster shots as well. Second, we need to talk about your cutting. How long has this been going on?"

"A few years." I reply quietly.

"Well, at least you've been keeping it clean, since there appears to be no infections and you don't seem to have any illnesses like blood poisoning. Please tell me you didn't share whatever it is that you use with someone else."

"No, I'm the only one that's used it."

"Good. I don't need you having two potential sources for body fluid based pathogens or diseases. Now I think we can both agree that this is not a very healthy habit at all, right?"

All I do is nod my head in agreement. I do know that I should probably stop; I've just never put any effort into trying since I didn't need to. And it does provide me with that release…

"So I'm going to recommend that you start going to see a therapist."

I snap my head up and glare at him. "Are you saying I'm crazy or something? I don't need a shrink to hop me up on pills and mess with my head." I spit out angrily. I'd heard plenty of stories from people in the underground about what those psych people do to you.

"Calm down Kasey." he says worriedly. "I'm not calling you crazy, and the therapist can't force you to take any drugs. But they can help you work through your problems and find better ways to get through them. They can help you stop relying on cutting to solve your problems."

"I don't know if I like the sound of it." I say coldly, crossing my arms.

"Well unfortunately, that is one of terms of you passing your physical. You know the league won't let you join Professor Oak's team if you don't pass, and I can't pass you if you're not healthy emotionally."

I sit there stunned. I try to think of a way to get out of this, but he's right. The ball's in his court on this one. I hang my head in resignation.

"Fine, you win." I say, dejectedly.

"It's not about winning, Kasey." he says firmly. "I don't want you to be unhappy. I want you to be healthy and to enjoy life. But I can't in good conscious say you are healthy when I know what you are doing to yourself. Have you told anyone on the team about this?"

I shoot him my best 'are you crazy?' look. "Of course not. Imagine how they would react. They'd probably think I'm a nutcase and that is not something I need. They know what I feel they need to know about me and that's it." I say, some anger returning to my voice.

"I think you're wrong, knowing all of them quite well. I know that they would want to do anything that they could to help you stop this and get better. There's no way they would think you're crazy."

"Still, I've never told anyone about it before, and I don't plan to start now. And you better not tell them either. I want doctor-patient confidentiality on this for sure."

"I wasn't going to tell them since it's not my place. I just think you should give it some thought. I'm sure the therapist is going to say the same thing." he says in his ever patient voice that I know must be running thin. "I'm going to go get the nurse and then I'll bring Delia in here and we can talk about my recommendations." he says, getting up from his stool and walking out the door.

"I can't wait!" I call out to him, sarcastically. After a couple minutes, a nurse comes in with a syringe and other stuff. She wraps a band around my arm and tells me to make fist. Then she wipes an area on the inside of my elbow clean and sticks in the needle. She draws a couple test tubes of blood and pulls it out, putting a bandage in its place. I only watch with mild interest, my day having been completely ruined by this doctor's visit from hell. She proceeds to give me three other shots of stuff on top of that.

"Just wait until they try and drag me to a dentist." I think to myself with a smile. The nurse gives me a smile thinking I'm smiling at her, and leaves the room with my blood.

--

After a couple more minutes, Delia and Dr. Hammond come back in.

"Alright Doc, is he going to live?" Delia asks jokingly. I just sit there frowning at him. He chuckles at Delia's joke, but turns serious after glancing at me.

"Well Delia, he's fine physically as far as I can tell. We're going to run some blood tests on him to make sure there's nothing going on under the surface, one of which is being done as we speak, the rest we'll get in a few days and I'll let you know the results of them when we get them. I'm also requiring that Kasey see a therapist as one of the terms of passing this physical."

Delia frowns slightly at this. "Is there something we should know? Is there a problem with him?" she asks worriedly, looking between me and the doctor. My frown deepens into an outright scowl.

"Nothing to be alarmed about Delia. I just feel like given Kasey's history, it would be prudent for him to see a therapist to talk to about things. I have a few in mind and I'll give you their contact information." he says in a calm voice, which in turn leads Delia to calm down. I'm immune to his little mind tricks though.

"Well okay then, so how long until this test is done?" she asks.

"I'll go check on it. It shouldn't be that long. I'll also get the numbers of those therapists." he says, getting up again. After the door shuts, Delia turns to me.

"So, how did everything go?" she asks in her ever pleasant voice.

"I want to get these results and get out of here and never come back." I reply icily. She takes the hint and sits back in her chair and waits along with me for the doctor to come back with the test results. All I can think about is "what if it's positive?" Am I going to be able to handle life as a person that's HIV-positive? How will the team treat me? Will they even want to be around me? And Rebecca- there's no way she would want to still be my girlfriend. It would be the end of any hope for happiness that I currently have. Why did I have to be so stupid back then? I was definitely experienced and knowledgeable enough to know better than to forget protection. This is completely my mom's fault- why did she have to get married to that abusive jerk and force me to leave? She should have cared more about me than him- I'm her son dammit!

The wait is agonizingly long as we sit there both with our own thoughts. Finally Dr. Hammond comes back in with a sheet of paper.

"Delia, if you could excuse us for a sec?" he asks politely. She nods and leaves the room, closing the door behind her. He then turns to me. "Here are the results of the test, Kasey." he says. "Let's see what it says…"

--

**Well, my professors did their best to try and kill me this semester, but they failed once again. Now I'm back in business, ready to post updates back like I used to- weekly at least. Thanks for putting up with my sabbatical. I did spend some time learning to become a better writer and I hope it winds up showing. Your cheers of "welcome back" are of course welcome along with any reviews you'd like to leave...**


	15. Spotlight

**Thanks to MetalPrincess13, Ketchum Kid, WildCroconaw, Fluffy Lady, and JoshDW for reviewing!**

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**Chapter 15-**

I close my eyes and slowly breathe in and out. No reason to get worked up. I mean, the HIV test came back negative, right? I passed my physical, right? This is just one last thing I have to do before I get to be a trainer again. And that's definitely what I want. This little press conference shouldn't take more than ten minutes tops. Just read the words on the paper and answer stupid questions. No problem. So why do I feel like I've got a Butterfree family reunion going on in my stomach?

"Relax." Meriah says while rubbing my shoulders. "It's going to be fine. We'll be there to cheer you on, and besides, it's not like anyone's going to remember this by next week anyway." she says in an encouraging voice. I give her a brief smile before returning my attention to the speech I have to give. I've practically memorized it I've read over it so many times. It's the questions I'm worried about. How personal are questions going to be? What does it look like if I don't feel comfortable answering one, which the Professor assured me I can do? I don't want my words being twisted around to make me look like a fool. I just don't know how many more nerve-wracking events I can take before I really lose it.

--

"The test is negative Kasey. You are lucky it turned out this way." the doctor says with a smile. I release a huge sigh of relief that I didn't realize I was holding in. "Now then, I'm sure you know better now about safe sex so I won't lecture you. We'll let you know the results of the other tests in about a week which hopefully will also come back negative. So if you have no more questions, you're free to go." the doctor says. I shake my head and stand up to leave. I shake his hand briefly before bolting to the waiting room and out the door, briefly pausing to let Delia catch up with me.

"So want to talk about how things went now?" she asks with a slight hint of concern. I know she's just looking out for me, but after what I've just been through, I'm not in the mood to talk.

"Everything's fine. You know my history and the doctor thought it would be good to talk to someone about it. You know the abuse and my family and everything."

"Well that sounds like a good idea. The nurse gave me some numbers so I'll do some research and we can figure out someone you would feel comfortable talking to." she says neutrally.

"Sounds good to me." I reply.

"Anyway, when we get back to the house, you, me, and the Professor are going to talk about the press conference about you signing with the team. We've got a couple of logistics to talk about."

"Whatever."

The rest of the ride home passes in silence. I'm still getting over my HIV scare, and now I've got a new one to take its place-talking in front of a bunch of strangers and cameras about where I've been for the past couple months and why I was fired. Oh boy.

--

I peek out from the door of the room we were in and see the chairs filling up with people. Most look like reporters but some of them look like regular people. I hope they don't ask weird stuff. There's a camera in the back being setup as well. Delia had told me that the Pokemon Sports Programming Network (PSPSN) was going to be broadcasting this thing live. Great, just what I needed- video proof of this horrible event. I close the door and go back to the chair I had just left. I look up at the time- ten minutes until show time. Delia, Rebecca, Greg, Schuyler, Evan, and Meriah all get up and head to their seats. It's only going to be the Professor and I at the table talking to people.

The set up is pretty cool looking with the backdrop as the Horizon Team logo. Then there was the basic setup of a table with two microphones on it and a chair in front of each. I'd always wanted to be important enough to be at a press conference, but I always imagined I would be talking about a pokemon battle I'd just won or was about to win, not my personal affairs. Oh well. I look back up at the clock- one minute to go? What!? Where did the time go? I'm not ready for this, dammit! The Professor walks over to me.

"Ready to go?" he asks with a touch of apprehension.

"Uh, I…I t-think so." I manage to stammer.

"Great! Let's get moving." he says, gently pulling me up from my chair and guiding me out the door.

The second we get in front of the backdrop, people start taking pictures. I don't know what to look at, so I just stare straight ahead. The professor clears his throat and begins to talk.

"I'd like to thank everyone for coming today. The format for this conference will be a few words by Kasey here, then I'll talk, then we'll have a brief Q and A. With that, I'll pass things over to Kasey." He turns towards me with an encouraging smile. I look at Delia and Rebecca. Delia gives me a thumbs up while Rebecca discreetly blows me a kiss. I can feel some of my confidence start to come back. I look down at the paper and begin to read my statement.

"Thank you Professor. Ladies and gentlemen, I know you all have a lot of questions about where I've been for the past couple months and what I've been doing. I hope to shed some light and give you some answers today. I need to first start off with this. My name is not Ryan Rayne. That was a stage name I used during my time with my previous team. My former owner thought it would be a good marketing ploy, along with the whole punk look that I had. My actual name is Kasey Mathews. As far as I'm concerned, the Ryan Rayne chapter of my life is over and done with. As you have probably gathered, I was relieved of my duties with my former team after my last match in Viridian City. A few days later I wound up in the employ of Professor Oak here helping out at his lab. It was a confusing time for me. My parting with my former team was an unpleasant experience, and I didn't know how to recover and get with another team. I was lucky to even be around Professor Oak's team. I've been working for him for the past couple of months getting back on my feet and enjoying a break from being a trainer. The time came however when I felt like I was ready to get back into the arena and be a trainer once more. The Professor offered me a spot on the Horizon Team that day. I found out that my previous owner had been holding my contract hostage in an attempt to keep me from being a trainer with a new team. Luckily the Professor negotiated me out of my former contract, allowing me to sign with his team. I've passed my required physical, and I'm now a proud new member of the Horizon Team. I'm very thankful to Professor Oak for giving me this opportunity. I also want to thank Ms. Delia Ketchum for being supportive of me during my time at the lab, my friend Rebecca, as well as my new teammates Meriah, Greg, Evan, and Schuyler, who I've had a lot of time to get to know. I look forward to helping them on the field of battle. I'm very happy to be starting a new chapter in my career as a trainer, as well as a new chapter in my life as a whole. Thank you."

The Professor starts talking right after I finish, but I don't even listen to what he's saying, having heard the whole thing before. I just sit and collect my thoughts and hope I sounded alright during my little speech. I look back at Delia and Rebecca who both mouth 'good job' to me. A give them a weak smile in response. Now for the worst part- the Q and A. As soon as the thought enters my mind, I hear the professor ask for questions. Immediately several hands go into the air. I call on a woman near the front.

"Kasey, what happened between you and your former owner Mr. Perks?"

"We had a disagreement over my abilities as a trainer and his knowledge as an owner." I answered. I call on another person.

"Kasey, how did you get hired by the Professor?"

"I…needed some way to get money and I guess he took pity on a kid that had fallen on some tough luck." I say, smiling at the Professor.

"Why did you wait so long to come out to the public with your identity?"

"Like I said, I enjoyed spending some time off the grid and getting a chance to relax a bit. If I'd revealed my identity you all would have been swarming on the Oak ranch to see me, and I didn't want that. I did keep up with some of the…interesting reporting on my whereabouts."

"Have you talked to Mr. Perks since you were released?"

"Once, and it was as unpleasant as the time before that."

"What pokemon will you be working with now?"

"That hasn't really been hammered out yet. The Professor and I have been trying out a bunch of types to see where my strengths are."

"What do you think of your new teammates?"

"They're all great trainers, but more important to me they're great people. I've gotten along great with all of them, right from the get go. I could do with a little less of Evan's pranks, but other than that, I can't wait to battle alongside them."

"What do you think of the person Mr. Perks hired to replace you?"

I stare at him for a second, stunned. When did he hire a new person?

"I didn't know he hired a new person. All the luck to whoever they are 'cause they're going to need it."

"When will we get to see you in battle next?"

"That's up to the Professor."

"What do your parents have to say about your new team?"

Again I'm sent reeling by a question. I haven't thought about my parents in a while.

"I wouldn't know and frankly don't care." I answer coldly.

"Surely they must be proud of you?"

"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen my parents in years. My father was a good parent before he died. As far as I'm concerned, he's the only real parent I have. When I win a battle, I pay tribute to him. My mother and that prick she's married to now could be dead for all I care."

A slight murmur goes through the crowd before a teenage girl stands up.

"So, like, are you going to be doing more interviews? 'Cause our readers definitely need to hear about the love life of Kasey Mathews."

I pause before laughing loudly, grateful for the change in topic. "Um, I'm sure I'll be doing more interviews. Just call ahead."

"We're out of time folks. Thanks once again for coming." the Professor says. He gets up and I follow suit. Some photographers ask us to pose standing together in front of the backdrop and take some shots. Then they have the whole team get up there for some shots as well. Finally after fifteen minutes, we head back to the room we started out in. The press conference is over.

--

That night, I find myself watching a replay of the press conference we had TiVo'd. Rebecca is sitting on the sofa reading a textbook, and I'm lying down with my head in her lap. While she reads, she strokes my hair with one hand while holding the book with the other. I'm quickly finding this to be my favorite relaxation method. After watching the whole conference as well as the commentary afterward, I look up from the TV and turn my attention to Rebecca. I love that look of concentration on her face as she reads through the book. I watch her for a couple minutes before she finally looks down at me.

"Enjoying the view?" she asks sarcastically.

"Immensely." I shoot back.

"I'm sure. But you're being unfair. You get to stare at me, but I only get to look at this boring book."

"Sucks to be you."

She pokes me in my side, knowing that I'm ticklish. I quickly grab her hands to stop her.

"On a more serious note, how was I today?" I ask.

"You were great. I saw how nervous you were in the prep room, but you looked fine once you started talking."

"Thank Mew. I was so worried I'd look like an idiot."

"Well you didn't. But what was that thing about your parents?" she asks with a mix of interest and concern. I sigh. I guess she deserves to know.

"My dad died when I was three years old. I told you before I lived in Olivine City. He got in a car crash on the beltway around the city. It sucked big time. It was me and my mom for a while there. Things were pretty cool. She dated some, but she never found anyone right. Then she met Dwayne. He got along with us pretty well, but he didn't like pokemon. He never made a big deal about it, so it wasn't an issue. I didn't love him or anything like a father, but I got along with him. My mom married him when I was ten. It went downhill from there. First he was always yelling at me and putting me down, saying things like 'I'm glad you're not my real son' and stuff like that. Of course if I yelled back at him, he'd beat me. Then he started beating me when I would play with pokemon which progressed to being beat whenever I even talked about pokemon. I hated it. And my mom just sat there and did nothing. She watched the whole thing happen and didn't even try to stop him. I'll never understand why. A month before my twelfth birthday I ran away from home and never went back. They didn't try and find me, or at least didn't look very hard, and I'm glad because I would not have wanted to go back anyway."

"Wow Kase, that sucks." she says, leaning down and kissing me on my forehead. After a couple moments, she asks, "Do you ever think about your mom?"

I sigh again. "Sometimes. As far as I'm concerned though, a mother would protect you from a bad person like Dwayne. She didn't. So she lost mom status in my book."

"I'm sorry that happened to you." she says. "Maybe I can cheer you up?" she asks, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"I like the way you think." I say. She hops and grabs my hand, pulling me upstairs and into her room. I'm just glad everyone went to bed…

--

**The more I write this story, the more I regret making it first person and in the present tense. It's difficult to write like that at times. I'm thinking about doing some chapters from other character's points of view. Thoughts?**


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